Second Life: Strelitzia's Story
by Tashasaurous
Summary: AU: Set during and after the events of "Second Life" and "Secret Episode" and before "Kingdom Hearts III: Second War"-While Sora and his friends handle the situation against Master Xehanort, a fallen Keyblade Wielder from the original War is given a second chance to soon add them, with companions of her own. But evil has other ideas. This is Strelitzia's new journey.
1. Prologue: The Calling

**Second Life: Strelitzia's Story.**

 **Author's Note: Writer's block hit again and as I like Strelitzia so much despite her shortage of appearence, so as those of you who have seen her in Chapter 18 of "Kingdom Hearts III: Second War", I've finally decided to begin on her side of Second Life which would lead up to her appearence in the other story.**

 **This will most likely be slow as well, but you know how it goes. Let's begin.**

 **I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.**

* * *

 _ **Prologue: The Calling...**_

 _"...I wish I...could have met you."_

Those final words she uttered before her death repeated in Strelitzia's subconsciousness before she had faded away. It haunted her, even in her resting place. Her heart was lost to darkness, her Chirithy had ceased to exist due to her death, and even worse...her Book that Master Ava entrusted to her had been stolen.

Stolen by the assassin with the weapon that was not a Keyblade. She had no idea who he was, or why he murdered her to steal her book. Was it to take her place as jealously? Or something more sinister? Could he have been the traitor everyone had been foretold and had no way of knowing until it was too late?

It did not matter, though. Not now.

Strelitzia was lost to the Realm of Light, and failed her duties as the new Foreteller. She was to remain dead, lost and forgotten in the never ending darkness. Her memories were all but washed away...except for her name, and her final moments. She didn't know how long she was in the darkness, and it did not matter. She knew there was no return from the darkness. Perhaps she casted her heart into darkness which made it easier for her murderer to find and kill her, because doubt was also darkness.

 _It's time..._

A strangely voiceless voice echoed, and to Strelitzia's floating heart, it sounded very familiar. Before she knew what was going on, light began to light up the dark area around her, and small particles of light gathered around the heart, coming together as though shielding it. It then formed into the body of the young teenage girl who had been lost into darkness; long orange ginger hair tied up in two loose ponytails, a white short skirt dress with long loose sleeves, white matching boots that went up to her knees and blue eyes which slowly blinked open.

"Light...? Warm light..." Strelitzia weakly mumured. Her head felt hazy, and she felt sleepy.

 _It's time..._

"Who...are you?" Strelitzia inquired. She tried to locate the origin of the voice, but found she was all alone in this warm light.

 _It's time...to give you a second chance._

"A second...chance?" Strelitzia repeated, confused. She then found the strength to straight herself from the lying position as she continued to float in the light, becoming more and more awake. In fact, for the first time in what seemed like ages, she felt life inside her, as though...she hadn't died at all. It was strange.

She shook her head and gazed up, asking, "A second chance of what? I don't understand."

 _A second chance to live. You are about to return to where you were taken away from. There is still so much to do...and so little time. Take your time._

Strelitzia gasped. A second chance to live? She was actually going to return to life? "That's not possible. No one has ever died and then returned to life! Have they?"

 _There are exceptions, but not wisely comman. Your life was unwisely taken, and it should not have ended that way._

"But...why me? I already failed as a Dandelion, and a Foreteller. What right do I have to return to the world? Has it even survied the War? Was it rebuilt?" Strelitzia asked, almost desperately. Why would it be her?

 _Centuries have passed since your passing. The world has been split into fragments of many; most of those you have seen through illusions; the worlds of the future._

The young woman sighed, "So I'm going to repeat my journey before the War, only in a strange future I am vaguely familiar with?" before realizing that most of her memories had already began to return.

 _No. Those worlds already had their tales told, but aided by the newer generations of the Keyblade; those whom are the Realm's hope. Some whose lives were ruined, similiar to yours, but are close to being saved. Four have already been saved, by the Realm's true chosen. But he cannot do this alone, even with allies who aided him to save the worlds twice._

"So they already had faced another danger of darkness. What mistakes were done now?"

 _I am sorry, but for you to know the truth, you must go and find them. Rebuild your life. Help others, and then you will be able to live in peace._

Strelitzia gazed her head low, not really certain. Was she ready to try again, to make a fresh start? What if she failed at this as she failed in her previous task before the Keyblade War? Her heart ached and suddenly she felt the terror of failing again.

"Would I...have to do this alone?" She asked, doubtful.

 _You will not be alone. A companion whom you lost along with your life shall be returned to you. And...one of the reborn from another Calamity will join you._

Well, that was some relief at least. That still left with one question.

"Okay. Say if I agree to do this, what do I have to do in order to meet the people who need my help?" Strelitzia asked.

 _Travel to many worlds. Enter a dimension where history is very different. Time has been distrupted and now many alternate realms are beginning to connect as they should not. Seek the newly born Gods who once took form as Eidolons, and take on many forms as Summons. Firstly, meet your companions, and only then, your perilous journey will begin. Will you accept this task?_

That sounded quite a lot for her to do, and Strelitzia wasn't naive enough to think that it would all be done the correct way. But if she was being given another chance in life, maybe she can do this as her way to atone for her failure. It was going to be risky, but she was a wielder of the Keyblade.

And being a Keyblade wielder always risk their lives in whatever task they were given.

Nodding to herself, Strelitzia gazed up again, this time with determation. "Okay. I'll do it...!"

 _Very well, child. But be warned. Darkness lurks stronger than ever, some who would attempt to decieve you, so be cautious...and don't be afraid._

The light around her then lit up brighter which caused Strelitzia to cry out as she attempted to shield her eyes, before realising she was passing out. But not before she heard the mysterious woman's voice for the final time.

 _Good luck, and May your Heart be your Guiding Key._

* * *

 **A/N: Thus begins Strelitzia's new adventure. In the next chapter, she will meet a familiar friend, familiar monsters and two new allies and that their adventure will start. Hope I did okay with trying to stick to her character, but we hardly get to know her.**

 **See you in the next chapter when I'm able to post again.**


	2. CH1: Revived in the Future

**Author's Note: I was torn between updating this and my other stories, so I decided to do this and then maybe update "Second Being" later on afterwards. Sorry that this update was late.**

 **I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.**

* * *

 _ **CH1: Revived in the Future.**_

The ground was somewhat hard. That was the first thing Strelitzia was feeling as she began to regain consciousness. Where was she? How long as she been out? Lit began to fill her vision as she opened her eyes, moaning softly while slowly pushing herself up for having been lying on her front. As her vision began to clear, as did her hearing, in front of her glittering in fading light was a familiar cat-like creature wearing a purse and a pink cape who was also waking up.

Strelitzia pushed herself into a sitting position and held a hand gently to her head, feeling dazed and disorientated, asking softly but aloud, "What happened to me?"

"Oooh..." The little cat moaned, before shaking his head and gazed up at the Keyblade wielder, inquiring in surprise, "Strelitzia? You're okay?"

"How did you know my..." Strelitzia trailled off as she focused solely on the little adorable cat, and almost instantly most of her memories returned. She almost immediately knew who this was. Her heart clutching tightly in her chest, and emotions getting the better of her, she tearfully and happily grabbed the cat into a tight warm hug, exclaiming, "Chirithy!"

"W-whoa! S-Strelit-zia! C-can't breathe!" Chirithy squeeled, despite also being happy to see his wielder again, but he was being squeezed.

Finally realising she was accidently hurting her Chirithy, Strelitzia loosened her grip and cringed slightly as her only friend slumped a little, dazed. "I'm sorry. I'm just so happy to see you again." She apologised before gently setting her companion down.

She then asked in confusion, "But...how are you here?"

"I don't remember much, but I do remember nothing but darkness after you and I faded away when we were attacked. Don't you remember?" Chirithy replied.

"I only remember dying and floating in darkness. I don't even remember who the attacker was. Though I do remember...hearing a voice. A woman's voice." Strelitzia said slowly, trying to think back through her memories. Most were okay, but there were pieces that were fuzzy and blur that she couldn't remember. She did though remember seeing a vision, which was then that she remembered what really happened.

 _A companion whom you lost along with your life shall be returned to you._

"You were the one she told me that would return to me." Strelitzia realised.

"So we're both revived? How?" Chirithy asked, puzzled.

The young woman shook her head, "I don't know. But, she said that we were both given a second chance. Thing is...centuries have passed and things have changed." before repeating what she was told to her friend as clearly as she could, about her mission, about the world being split to many that were seen from the past Strelitzia and many other Keyblade wielders had visited via illusions of the future, and her new mission, as well as the new generations of Keyblade wielders that have successfully protected the worlds during her absence.

"Hmm...I guess things really are different now. It's going to take us a while to get used to being revived in the future after many years of being gone." Chirithy thought deeply.

"I agree. It'll be very strange not being in Daybreak Town. I wonder where we are, though?" Strelitzia muttered, and after testing her strength, she stood up before realising she and Chirithy were in between two buildings of an alley. She ventured to the opening and peered out, seeing many people, adults and children, all casually going on their lives in a very modern like town with white and gray buildings in a bright sunny day.

There was also a train station nearby in an opening that overviewed the ocean nearby with train rails leading over it and green fields. A flock of white doves flew in the air.

 _ **{NEW BRESHA}**_

"This really _is_ the new era." Strelitzia whispered in awe, never having seen anything like the city before her very eyes.

"Everything seems so peaceful here...in this world of many fragments of the old world." Chirithy added as he stood by the Keyblade wielder's side.

"Fragments...and yet many people do not know that. Or do they?" Strelitzia replied, gazing at Chirithy, "I'm not sure where we are or where to start with the mission."

"Maybe finding the person who is said to be reborn from another Calamity. You should start there." Chirithy suggested, before quickly adding, "But don't go asking or telling anyone until you spot the right person. Things are not the same anymore and there are no Keyblade Wars coming. At least not that I know of."

That's right. This was a strange new time and era and one of the many new worlds now. Strelitzia was on her own and quite possibly the only Keyblade wielder around here if those who saved the worlds twice did not live here. This mission wasn't going to be easy, and it wasn't going to be easy getting used to returning to life many centuries after her death either. Then again, it wasn't easy being a Keyblade Wielder when she started out back then. But she got used to it.

She would now have to get used to this as well.

"Right, and while on the subject, you shouldn't be around in the open either." Strelitzia agreed.

"I'll check in on you later." Chirithy nodded.

"Thanks, Chirithy." Strelitzia smiled, before finally emerging from the alley while Chirithy poofed away for the time being. As she ventured into the crowd, she looked around her new surroundings in complete awe, passing by people who noticed her, but didn't find her suspicious despite wearing completely different clothing.

As she walked while looking for someone that could possibly be someone she is destined to find, Strelitzia couldn't help but admire the beautiful world she was now currently in. One that isn't just a simulation of the future from the Book of Prophecies, but in actual real life of the very future that is far different than what she had originally thought. She then noticed a store with a sign that said "Gift Shop" and, given her situation, she was new around here and what better to know more about new world than to ask a shop keeper?

So she pushed open the door which ring the bell above her, and when she stepped inside, it was an accessories store which sold needed items for travellers; potions, elixirs, and other useful items. It also acted as a little cafe with tables and chairs.

"Hi! How can I help you?" The shopkeeper called from the counter, and when Strelitzia looked, she was a bit surprised to see that the clerk was a young girl, about closer to her phsyical age with curly blond hair and brown eyes. She wore an outfit that looked a bit like what people wore in the illusion of Agrabah.

"Uh, h-hi." Strelitzia replied, shyly. She always had been on a bit of a shy side, but after suddenly remembering her failed meeting with the one whom she would never met, she sighed before approaching the girl, saying, "I'm sorry for intruding your time. But I'm very much new in this town. Could you tell me the name of this place?"

"Oh, so you're a visitor, huh?" The girl asked, and when Strelitzia nodded, she answered, "This is New Bresha."

"New Bresha?" Strelitzia repeated. Well, at least she now knew the name of this place. She then asked another question, "So um, other than me, have you seen anything unusual here lately?"

The girl was a bit startled by the question, before sighing as she answered, "Yeah, actually. My good friend Serah, who's the local teacher around here, hasn't been in a good mood lately. Her older sister Claire-everyone calls her Lightning-went missing a year ago. On top of that, her boyfriend, Snow, went off looking for her, but he hasn't been back since either. Sure Serah's trying to be in high spirits, but it's really rough on her. Not mention those weird monsters keep appearing outta nowhere; black ones, white ones, though the latter haven't been seen at all lately."

Black monsters? Strelitzia tried not the let her shocked expression show. Could it be the Heartless? But why would they still be here? At the same time, though, she felt sorry for this Serah person, especially since she lost her sister and boyfriend. She knew that feeling, and, she realised, everything she knew in her previous life were all gone. All she had left was her heart, Chirithy and her Keyblade.

"...I see. I guess I should be careful then. Thank you for your help miss...uh..." Strelitzia trailled off, feeling a little embarrassed for not knowing the clerk's name.

"Oh, sorry. I'm Penelo." Penelo replied with a smile.

"Thank you, Penelo. I'm Strelitzia." Strelitzia nodded, acknowlaging the friendly girl's name.

Suddenly there was a sound of screaming coming from outside, which alarmed the two young women who gasped, before sharing a worried glance and then Penelo exclaimed worriedly, "Please tell me it's not those monsters again!"

Immediately sensing familiar darkness, Strelitzia knew what she had to do, and she then boldly said while racing out towards the door, "Leave this to me!" much to Penelo's shock and surprise.

As she bursted through the door and back outside, Strelitzia skid to a stop and gasped in shock as a familiar horde of black large ant-like monsters with yellow eyes appeared, causing many people who saw them run away in terror.

"The Heartless!? They still exist?" Strelitzia exclaimed in disbelief. Even after centuries of being dead, Heartless still existed? Shaking away her thoughts of questions that are yet to be answered, the young wielder knew what she had to do; she had to fight them to save the people of New Bresha.

But as she snapped her wrist to summon her Keyblade, to her greater confusion, instead of the evolved version of the Star-Keyblade she was given centuries ago, the Keyblade that materalized in her hand was very different now: it was similiar to her old one, but now it's teeth were a crystal like star-snow flake with a matching key-chain, and the hilt around the handle were shaped like feathered wings.

"Huh? My Keyblade...it's..." Strelitzia muttered, stunned beyond belief. Did the mysterious voice transform her Keyblade upon reviving her? She then gasped when a Heartless leaped right at her. Snapping out of her stunned trance and deciding to worry about the mystery of her Keyblade later, she quickly slashed at the Heartless, dispatching it.

Despite not being alive again for long, Strelitzia cartwheeled out of the way as the Heartless attempted to blindside her. She then slashed and sliced through the enemies and keeping them away from Penelo's shop and the innocent citizens who were in danger of losing their hearts to darkness.

"Fire!" Strelitzia chanted as she held out her Keyblade and a Fire spell shot out, eliminating the Heartless in the wake of the invasion. Still more kept coming, and she jumped back to avoid Armor Heartless that appeared from swiping at her with their claws, before responding in dispatching them as well.

But she didn't sense the Heartless coming behind her until it was too late, and Strelitzia turned and gasped as another Heartless made to attack.

"Look out!"

The voice of a young woman came to her right and Strelitzia only caught glimpse of a rose-coloured blonde hair tied to a ponytail on the left side of her head, delicate frame with pale skin, blue eyes, white sleeveless dress skirt under a semi transparent sweeper, long thigh-high black stockings, ivory ankle boots, as the other girl knocked her over out of the way of the Heartless and narrowly avoiding it herself.

But as the two hit the ground with the pink-haired girl over Strelitzia, there was a sudden transformation as, as though by each other's contact, light covered the other girl's clothes, morphing into a strange transformation which the light forced the Heartless to back off.

"Are you okay?" The girl, possibly no older than at least 20 or 22, maybe 21, asked as she slowly got off Strelitzia who stared at her in surprise and shock, finally noticing the full transformation of her savior's clothes.

"Y-yes, I'm fine. Thank you." Strelitzia replied, before blinking in surprise, "Did your..."

Wondering what Strelitzia was about to stay, the pink-haired girl suddenly noticed the change in her attire and gapped, gazing at her new out fit of a white top with pink sections on the front and back connecting to the top of a skirt over black shorts, cut-out sides on the waist and crisscrossing pink straps on the sides the two straps that now went over her shoulders into a cross-back shape. She also had a storage pack on her right hip which hanged from the waist, pink and black thigh-high leggings, purple ankle boots, a pink choker, short pink sleeves under the gray gloves and two gold armbands, one on each arm.

"These are...I wore them before...! But why are they...?" The girl muttered, stunned and seemingly briefly forgotten Strelitzia who blinked in confusion. Did she hear her right? She wore those clothes before and had no idea they were suddenly on her?

' _Could she be...?_ ' Strelitzia blinked, wondering if this woman was whom she was beginning to think she was. She and the girl then gasped as three more Heartless advanced on them and the former quickly stood up, holding a tight grip on her Keyblade. Now really wasn't the time to be asking questions.

The Heartless were instantly dispatched by a sudden arrival of a seven-foot long katana, wielded by a man in his mid thirties with short blond hair and matching thin beard, wearing a cap, a blue t-shirt, gray pants and black boots.

"Al!" The pink-haired girl cried out, recongising the man.

"Serah! You and that kid get to safety!" Al, or Alfred, ordered. He didn't wait for a reply and instead charged to fight off the Heartless, slashing at them.

"I can help!" Strelitzia called, only to be held off when more Heartless blocked her and the girl, whom was possibly the same Serah that Penelo just mentioned, and advancing on the two.

Then there was a ball of light that suddenly materalized next to Serah who gasped in surprise and it then formed into a bow and several arrows which floated to land in her opened hands. Gasping in realization, she then nodded and, to Strelitzia's surprise, stood in a fighting position herself.

"I'll help too!" Serah said with determination.

"...Right." Strelitzia nodded, then turned her attention back to the Heartless, before she and Serah fought against them, with Serah firing arrows at the Heartless, dispatching them, and Strelitzia slashing at the monsters as well. The bow then turned into a sword like weapon with Serah used to clash against the enemies as well and soon the two young women and Al dispatched all of the Heartless that had appeared.

Once certain that the Heartless were gone for now, Strelitzia sighed before dismissing her Keyblade for the time being and turned to Serah who approached her, prompting the former to say, "Thank you, Serah. I would've died if you hadn't saved me."

"Your welcome. I guess you know my name since Al mentioned it." Serah replied with a warm smile.

"That, and the kind clerk Penelo briefly mentioned about you at the store here." Strelitzia replied, before introducing herself, "My name is Strelitzia. I'm new in this city."

"I know." Serah replied, surprising Strelitzia and admitting, "I...saw you in a dream. You came from another world, right?"

Strelitzia was even more stunned and shocked. Could Serah really be...the companion the voice told her would join her in her adventure? "So...you know why I came here?"

"Sort of." Serah shrugged, then she and Strelitzia gasped as her bow glowed and transformed into a cute little creature with a staff.

"Hi, Serah, Kupo!" The cute thing said as he floated towards Serah who, apparently recongising him, teared up before she pulled him into a hug.

"Mog! It's so good to see you!" Serah cried happily, while squishing the Moogle against her chest without realising it as he then squirmed in her arms.

Seeing Serah somewhat reunite with the very different Moogle that could transform into a weapon made Strelitzia think about her own reunion with Chirithy with a smile, moved by the heart-warming scene.

"Uh, Serah?" Al approached as he finally saw what happening and he looked very confused. "What's going on? And where'd this Moogle come from?"

Strelitzia and Serah both shared a worried glance while the latter released the Moogle. It was then they knew that they had some explaining to do.

"Let's talk in Penelo's shop. It's more private there." Serah suggested.

The other three agreed and headed back inside where they would discuss the situation, especially since Strelitzia had to tell Serah of what was happening and had to confirm whether the pink-haired girl was one of the reborn from another Calamity or not.

* * *

 **A/N: I know, I still suck at battle scenes. I do try my best at them. And for those of you who aren't sure who Alfred is, he is a Character from Chaos Rings 3, a game which was published by Square Enix but developed by Media Vision. Couldn't think of a non-disney Character or a Final Fantasy character that wasn't from VII, VIII, X, and XIII, and New Bresha is the world which Bhunivelze created.**

 **So I picked a Non-Final Fantasy character instead. Hopefully I'll post the next chapter sooner than before. See you then and thanks for favoriting and following this story so far! I'll do my best with it.**


	3. CH2: The Quest Begins

**Author's Note: Back with another chapter of this story since I wanted to continue this and unable to resist the urge. By the way, saw parts of the gameplay of KH3 on Youtube a couple days ago from the Premiere Event and it looked so cool! Especially the (Spoilers alert) Rock Titan boss battle!**

 **And, if this is to be true, Nomura plans on giving everyone the release date of the game early next month! So we may finally know which month and date we'll getting the full game itself!(I'm still sticking the November bet I've got in mind since it's most likely)**

 **Until then, let's continue on.**

 **I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.**

* * *

 _ **CH2: The Quest Begins.**_

It was a good half an hour later that Strelitzia admitted the truth of her arrival as quietly as she could so that other people that may enter Penelo's shop wouldn't hear her, or Serah, or even Al' who, seeing how he caught on Serah's reunion with Mog and familiarity with her change of clothes, was to know parts of the situation as well. Penelo in the meantime served them her cooking which was surprisingly delicious.

Especially when Strelitzia realised she'd forgotten what it was like to be hungry until her stomach growled, much to her embarrassment.

"...So now my new mission is to explore many other worlds, enter an alternate dimension and search for this new Keyblade wielder and his allies who saved the Realm of Light for the past two years." Strelitzia finished, before adding as she gazed at Serah, "I was also to have a companion who, according to the voice, is one of the many to have been reborn from another calamity."

"So the voice was talking about me." Serah whispered in realization, absorbing the information which, given her recent dreams it was starting to make sense. "Not to mention many other worlds...created after the one I was originally born in had been destroyed and long forgotten."

"You mean...You actually come from another world?" Strelitzia inquired, wide widining in amazement and disbelief.

Serah nodded, and explained, "The world I came from...well, one of the two close to each other, actually, no longer exists. Almost everyone who were born both worlds were all reborn into this world that was created by Bhunivelze when disaster took place thousands of years ago. So much happened, and it took my older sister, our friends and even myself to make it all happen. And yet, it took humanity to stop Bhunivelze from destroying us and the dead to rebuilt them as his puppets."

"Bhunivelze...created this world? Is he...a God or something?" Strelitzia asked, as no ordinary person or even a Sorcerer would create a world, even by illusion standards with the Book of Prophecies.

"Yes. Bhunivelze was the creator." Serah confirmed, before explaining everything to Strelitzia as well as Al who sat there silently. The pink-haired woman explained the beginning of the history of the l'Cie, the history of the original two worlds, everything she and those she loved went through and how time had been involved, about the destruction that happened after the defeat of Caius which resulted the death of Etro, the Goddess of the Dead, Serah's own death due to being a Seeress chosen by the Goddess, Lightning being chosen as Bhunivelze's warrior to become a savior and would've replaced Etro as part of his plan to erase memories and emotions except for eternal happiness by destroying the dead, how Time had been destroyed and the worlds merged with the Unseen Realm, resulting humanity to no longer age or give birth and were not immortal.

Serah also explained how Lightning discovered the truth and after reuniting with everyone, rebeled against Bhunivelze and stopped him from destroying humanity including the dead, how Serah was revived and all the souls united to ultimately defeat Bhunivelze who was sent to the new Unseen Realm, along with Caius and every incarnations of Yuel, except the final one who was freed from her fate and allowed to be reborn as a normal human who now lives in this world and that all of the souls including Serah and Lightning's family and friends were reborn here and that only they remembered everything with the memories of this world.

"...Thinking back, it sort of feels like only yesterday." Serah concluded.

"And you're not certain that Bhunivelze really is dead or just sleeping." Strelitzia theoried, and after Serah nodded, the Keyblade wielder then asked, "But, what caused your sister to disappear?"

"I don't know. One day she was telling me she was coming to visit for a couple of weeks, and then the next she didn't show up at the train station. At first, I thought she missed it and tried calling her at home, but she didn't pick up her phone." Serah shook her head, becoming sorrowed as another memory came to her. "I called the police for anything suspicious, but no one saw her being dragged or even reports of a kidnapper on the loose. It was like...she simply just vanished without a trace."

She quickly wiped away the moisture of tears that were forming in her eyes, willing herself to calm down, and continued, "Everyone gave up the search for her after a month. Except for Snow."

"Yes, Penelo told me that he went out to look for your sister too, and hasn't been seen since either." Strelitzia remembered, before saying apologetically, "I'm sorry, Serah."

Serah sighed, even as Al rubbed her back comfortingly, and continued, "It's like when she was pulled into the Unseen Realm and history changed to make everyone but me think she died in saving the world three years before my own adventure all over again. Even though it's only been a year...I can't help but worry that Time is being distrupted again in New Bresha or maybe she died somewhere...and Snow vanished too."

"Or maybe Lightning was taken from this world and went to another, and Snow must've somehow found a way to travel across worlds." Strelitzia suggested, making Serah and Al look at her, while she continued, "Those monsters are called the Heartless. While things may be different now and the other worlds are real and not simply illusions, Heartless can transport themselves from one place to another by using Darkness and cause problems everywhere. It could be that Lightning had been taken from this world and moved to another, and Snow might have found a way to use that transport to leap from one world to another. It's just my theory, but I can't think of another one that makes sense."

"So...it's possible that Lightning and Snow are out there...in other worlds." Serah muttered, hope beginning to swell up inside her heart, and Strelitzia nodded in agreement.

"Uh, hold up." Al spoke up, finally speaking after a long while. "Hate to break it up here, but I'm not sure I believe any of this stuff, despite that I'm a top ranked Explorer. Seriously, Serah. Can you really trust this girl who happened to appear outta nowhere?"

"I had my doubts with Noel when I first met him, but like me, Strelitzia has been revived after many years of being dead. Plus, she fought against those monsters she calls the Heartless." Serah pointed out, gazing at Mog who floated through the whole conversation, "Not only I saw Strelitzia's arrival in my dream, Mog had also been in the Unseen Realm until today. So something's happening out there, and it has my sister involved, as well as many others."

"I'm still not certain who the owner of the voice that brought me back is, but what I do know is, I was given a second chance to live. Though even without my mission, I can't let the worlds fall into darkness again, not with the Heartless still existing." Strelitzia added, continuing shyly, "Not only that, I'd like to help in locating Serah's family. It's the least I can do as my thanks to Serah for saving me earlier."

Al quirked an eyebrow, "You sound nervous about offering to help."

Strelitzia shrugged awkwardly, "I've always been on the shy side. Not only that, I want to atone for my failures in the past."

"But for the mission, you need my help." Serah concluded, and the Keyblade wielder nodded. The young woman thought about it, then looked at Mog who nodded, and she too nodded before gazing back at Strelitzia, saying, "Well then, I'll go with you."

"Really?" Strelitzia asked, surprised that Serah was accepting the mission.

"Yep. I can't let the Heartless hurt many people in other worlds, and even though we only just met, I want help you and find my sister and hero." Serah replied. She then giggled, "Plus, it's not the first time I've left home on a journey to different places. This time though, it won't involve Time-travel and it'll be in other worlds."

"You're seriously gonna go with it?" Al exclaimed, shocked, and Serah nodded.

"A-are you sure it's okay? I don't want to force you into anything." Strelitzia stuttered, nervously.

"I'm positive. Sure, I am a bit nervous, but when are adventures never nerve-wrecking?" Serah said.

' _That's true. I was nervous when I first became a Keyblade wielder, and even more nervous when Master Ava chose me as one of the Five new Leaders after picking me to join the Dandelions._ ' Strelitzia realised in her mind.

Even though Strelitzia felt guilty to drag Serah from her home world, it was a relief that her soon-to-be-companion was accepting the task. Not to mention that it was going to be a very different journey. Unlike the illusions, they would venturing into real worlds of this time, to meet the real residents of those said worlds. Quite possibly residents who met the new wielder and his allies who saved them all more than once during her absence.

Finally, she smiled softly and nodded, "Thank you, Serah."

"But first, I gotta make calls to tell my friends that, well, I'm going away for a while." Serah added, and Strelitzia nodded in agreement.

"Think would be a good idea to not tell them where you're actually goin', Serah. Might drive them crazy." Al suggested, admitting, "I'm still not liking this whole thing, but I can't related to you and you've been through a lot. It's not like I can stop you."

He then asked, "Uh, how do you get to other worlds, anyway?"

That was a good question. Back then, the Keyblades were used to transport to the illusions of the worlds, not really leaving the original world. And the Foretellers had the power to transport themselves from one area to another in Daybreak Town without the use of the Keyblades through Corridors of Light.

Unless...

"Hmmm...I think, I may have an idea." Strelitzia muttered, standing up and summoned her Keyblade, admitting, "My Keyblade wasn't always like this. So among everything else when I was revived, it changed into looking like this. So maybe, with luck, I now have the power to transport to the real worlds." before dismissing it again for the time being.

"You can do that?" Serah asked, amazed.

"It's what I'm hoping. Back then, Keyblade wielders like me could transport into illusions of worlds of the future as part of our training to defeat the darkness. And they were very realistic back then. But since I came back, and my Keyblade evolved, it might be able to take us to other worlds. We can only try it out and see." Strelitzia explained.

"That's really an amazing thing, Kupo." Mog said, speaking up for the first time. "It's a lot easier than looking for Time-Gates in random areas, Kupo."

"...Well, at least those kinds of transport don't involve in buying tickets." Al admitted, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

* * *

Nearly a few hours later, Strelitzia was waiting for Serah who had gone to make phone calls to everyone she knew to let them know that she was going away for a while and promised to return soon, after saying her goodbyes to Penelo and Al who made Strelitzia swear that Serah would be safe. That included time off from work. The Keyblade wielder waited around the corner, taking out a few lingering Heartless an hour ago before returning to her waiting position, deep in her thoughts.

Even though she had a feeling that things could turn out alright by the end of this journey, Strelitzia couldn't help but think of the worst things that could happen. What if she failed this adventure? What if Serah ended up killed?

She didn't even flinch as Chirithy poofed next to her, and asked, "You're not worried, are you?"

"How can I not be? I mean, everything's different to centuries ago, and I'm risking in taking another person with me from her home world. Isn't it against the new rules? I can't risk in telling other people in other worlds about being many other worlds out there. Not only that, what if I fail all over again?" Strelitzia rambled, starting to pace back and forth and beginning hyperlate.

"Calm down! You shouldn't panic." Chirithy quickly told her, before sighing as he shook his head, muttering, "You haven't changed a bit."

Freezing in her tracks, Strelitzia felt her face heat up in embarrassment, before turning to face her old friend again, sheepishly saying, "Sorry. You're right; I haven't changed even the slightest. I still panic without thinking clearly. Maybe I should learn to calm down and think slowly while I'm alive again."

"Well, if you need help, you got me, Serah and Mog. All you gotta do is ask and, like you said, calm down and think slowly." Chirithy offered.

"Thanks, Chirithy." Strelitzia smiled, and with that her little companion disappeared again for the time being, just as Serah and Mog came around the corner a few minutes later.

"Well, everything is sorted out." Serah spoke up, making Strelitzia to face her. "Is everything okay?"

Strelitzia sighed, answering, "Well, yes and no. I mean, this adventure is going to be risky and I don't want to drag you into something that's very dangerous."

Serah shook her head and pointed out, "It's okay. I'm willing to take the risk, just like I took the risk in travelling through time. As long as we're careful and think, and not panic, it'll be fine." with Mog nodding in agreement.

Realising that Serah was right and that she had just said the similiar thing Chirithy told her, Strelitzia nodded, smiling, "Thanks, Serah."

"Miss Farron!" Very young voices called up, causing the two young women and Mog to turn to see two boys and a little girl, all around nine years of age, run up towards Serah who smiled and greeted them happily.

"You know them?" Strelitiza asked.

"These are my students. I teach their classes." Serah replied, which quickly triggered Strelitzia's memory.

"Miss Farron! Miss Farron!" The children hopped happily.

"Oh, that's right! You're a teacher here, aren't you? Penelo mentioned that." Strelitzia remembered.

Serah nodded, before turning to her students and telling them, "I'm glad all of you are safe, but I'll be going away for a while...on a business trip. Now, I expect you to do your homework even while I'm gone."

"Yes, ma'am!" The little girl nodded, "I did mine last night, 'cause I didn't want you getting mad at me like the last time."

Strelitzia couldn't help but giggle, and asked Serah, "You really love these children but you're strict with them too?" which made the latter give her a pouting glare.

The children seemed to agree, because they began clapping their hands in rhythm while chanting, "Meanie Miss Farron! Meanie Miss Farron!" before running off giggling and Serah pouted even more.

She sighed while crossing her arms and said, "I'm only strict because my teachers were strict; both in my previous life and this one. Lightning really rubbed it off on me. Maybe we both took it after our father."

"The Foretellers who I respected as masters were strict too. Master Ira and Master Aced were the scariest." Strelitzia stated, thinking back of her previous life, as they began to walk towards the Train Station to take a short trip to the field where they would find a good spot for Strelitzia to test out her Keyblade to see if she can opening up a portal or not.

However, as they neared the entrance of the train station, the two of them and Mog stopped when an unfamiliar man emerged. He had magenta hair, a black fedora hat with a black coat, black leather pants and boots, a white shirt underneath which parts of his upper chest was seen, hazle eyes with very thin invisible beard. The sight of the stranger made Mog shiver before zipping to hide behind Serah who looked at her friend briefly before turning to the stranger.

"I'm afraid you ladies are out of luck." The man told them the instant he layed his eyes on them, motioning vaguely behind him.

The instant she gazed at the man, Strelitzia suddenly saw red demon eyes flash in her mind's eye and blinked. There was something very strange about this stranger, but she couldn't figure out what it was yet. She felt that those demon eyes she just saw for a split second was trying to tell her something, but what, she didn't know.

"Excuse us?" Strelitzia inquired.

"The trains bring you here, correct?" The man didn't wait for an answer before continuing, "Well, they won't take you forth."

Serah was confused, and even though this man seemed polite enough, she felt something suspicious and very odd about him. "Why do you say that, sir?"

The magenta-haired man grinned, "I'm an impatient traveller, ready to take a hike. Though I must say, the increase of the monsters appearing out of nowhere is getting us nowhere." before moving foward despite his way being blocked which made Strelizia and Serah move out of the way to let him past.

He tipped his had mockingly at the two women before pausing a few steps and three something silver at Strelizia who quickly caught it in her hands before it could hit her face. She opened her hands and gazed at the odd silver round object in her palms.

"What's this? A coin?" Strelitzia inquired, confused on why the stranger gave her something like this.

"Consider it an allowance, young lady." The man smirked as he turned to face her and Serah again.

"An allowance? By who?" Serah asked, just as confused.

The man grinned, spreading his arms out and gave a mocking half bow before answering, "A man of no consequence. No thanks is needed." and with that, he turned and walked away without another word, leaving behind the two confused young women to share an uncertain glance.

Once the man was out of earsdrop, Mog hovered by Serah's side and shuddered, saying, "He's scary. I've never seen anyone like him before."

"Me neither. There's something strange about him." Serah shook her head, thinking deeply.

"I haven't seen him before either. And why would a stranger just give a person something like this and say that the trains won't take us forth?" Strelitzia added, frowning.

"Stupid train! It had to go down now of all times!" Another man's voice complained behind them, and before Strelitzia and Serah could even turn, a raven-haired man stormed passed them without even acknowlaging them.

"That...just confirmed what we heard." Serah muttered, sighing. She and Strelitzia sighed in disappointment, while Mog slumped down, moaning, "Kupo..."

"I guess we'll have to find another empty spot." Strelitzia said, and the other two nodded in agreement.

"I think I know a good spot. It's not a far walk and we don't have to take the train." Serah said.

* * *

It was a fifteen minute walk down the rather lovey path from the City and onto the bike track towards the quiet field, which seemed like a good spot as any.

"What a lovely area." Strelitzia admired.

"Sometimes I take my students to this place for special assignments for schoolwork. It's everyone's favorite place to come to." Serah explained, smiling as she gazed around, sighing softly. This would be the last time she would be seeing it for a while, but at least she could get to see it before she would leave on her new journey. She would be leaving behind her friends and her students, and her home. But to her, despite it having been thousands of years, it wasn't anything new to her.

The only thing that was new was travelling to other worlds, not through time. As Noel once told her, once she went through, she may not be coming back.

"We'll be back." Strelitzia spoke softly, as though she read Serah's thoughts. "In Daybreak Town, I could return home after a mission. It may take awhile, but we can come back here to check up on everything during this journey. I can at least promise you that."

"Thanks, Strelitzia. I believe you." Serah nodded, before taking a deep breath and said, "I'm ready."

"I'm ready too, Kupo!" Mog piped up.

"Well, let's see if this works." Strelitzia said, summoning her Keyblade, and thinking her head, ' _Please let this work._ ' before whipping it forward expertly. The tip of it glittered in light before a beam of light shot out before it materalized a large hole of light in the middle of the air, creating a Corridor of Light.

Strelitzia, Serah and Mog all smiled in relief and amazement, with the former exclaming, "It worked!"

"Amazing." Serah breathed.

"Kupo..." Mog mumured in awe.

"Well, I guess this is it." Serah said.

"Yeah. Our journey begins now." Strelitzia nodded in agreement, taking the lead as she and her two new companions bravely stepped into the Corridor of Light, which vanished the moment they stepped into it and beginning their new journey.

However, they were unaware of the mysterious man they briefly met earlier watching them from behind a tree had witnessed this event and he smirked.

* * *

Inside the Corridor of Light, the three companions were walking as they gazed around passageway of shining stars and swirls surrounding them floating everywhere in all directions, and yet the invisible ground beneath Serah and Strelitzia was very solid.

"This place is incredible." Serah breathed in awe.

"This is the Corridor of Light." Strelitzia explained, "A crossroad between different places in a lot of areas, and even to other worlds."

"So this is how you were able to travel from one place to another." Serah realised.

Strelitzia nodded, "Yep. Just walking through this passageway." before blinking as she muttered, more to herself than Serah, "I wonder this is how the newer Keyblade wielders travelled to other worlds?"

"Maybe if we meet them, we'll find out." Serah thought.

"Yeah. You're right. However, we can't let anyone else we meet in the new worlds know about other worlds. I don't want to cause suspicion or panic, or someone to use to their advantage. It's best to be kept secret." Strelitzia told her.

Serah thought it made sense, given that there may be people who were bad that could use world travel to their advantage. So she nodded, promising, "I understand."

"Kupo!" Mog perked up, and when the two girls looked to see what caught his attention, a bright light at the end of the Corridor of space was seen.

"Our destination." Strelitzia surmised.

"That was fast." Serah thought, even more amazed.

"It doesn't take long to travel between worlds through corridors of Light and Darkness. Sadly, that's also how the Heartless get by." Strelitzia replied, before admitting, "I don't know where we'll end up, though. But I do know that I can think of a way back to New Bresha when needed. So, you ready to see the new world, Serah?"

"You bet!" Serah nodded, "This is like travelling through Time, only without floating through time itself."

Strelitzia smiled, taking the lead, with Serah and Mog following as they walked into the light, where they would emerge in the new world they would encounter. Along with new dangers and new adventures, in their goal to locate not only the ones Strelitzia is destined to meet, but also Serah's sister and boyfriend.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the lack of action in this chapter. It was more focused on decisions and preparations for the journey ahead. Not sure what Disney World we'll be visiting in the next chapter, but I'm kind of edging more towards Wonderland. Might end up thinking of something else by the time I start on it.**

 **Again, thanks for favoriting and following this story, guys. I will do my very best with it, but there may be ups and downs. See you in next chapter!**


	4. CH3: The World of Nonsense

**Author's Note: After failing to come up with another Disney world as the first Disney world for this story, and due to it being strikingly stuck in my mind, Wonderland won out on this one. Like I said, like pretty much all of my stories, this one will be slow going depending on what's happening in real life for me.**

 **I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.**

* * *

 _ **CH3: The World of Nonsense.**_

 _ **{WONDERLAND}**_

One minute Strelitzia, Serah and Mog had emerged from the Corridor of Light and expected to gaze around their surroundings, the next the trio soon found themselves falling slowly down a Rabbit hole, passing clocks, tables, fireplaces, pictures that were upside down, Lampshades, and rocking chairs. Eventually the two young women landed softly on their feet while Mog simply hovered by their side due to being a Moogle.

"What a strange place." Serah said, slight disorientated at the fact that they still alive. "For a while there, I thought we were in for a crash landing."

Strelitzia shrugged and repiled, "I did too, until we passed the clocks and whatnot that I realised where we are. Considering that...this is the real version of one of the future worlds I've seen through illusions."

"You recongise this new world?" Serah asked.

"Yes. We're in Wonderland." Strelitzia replied, "I've never been into the real one before because, like I said, I visited illusions of the worlds of the future, which is the present now. It's exactly the same as me and other wielders in training had seen."

"So why is everything floating while you and Serah are not, Kupo?" Mog asked, puzzled.

The Keyblade wielder giggled, "Because Wonderland is so far the strangest world in existance; Here, nothing makes sense. And pretty much all of the residents of this world are equally strange."

Just then, the trio heard a quick pattering of someone running as the White Rabbit, not seeing them, run past the surprised group while he cried out in a panic, "Oh, my fur and whiskers! I'm late, I'm late! For a very important date!" before turning as he finally saw the group, quickly saying with a wave, "No time to say hello. Goodbye! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" before turning and ran again through the hallway, while looking at his over-sized clock and tried to run faster.

An awkward pause.

"I'm beginning to see why." Serah finally said, awkwardly. She then asked, "Where he could be going?"

"To be honest, I don't know. Maybe things that I've seen haven't happened yet, or maybe it has happened. The only way to find out is explore this place and take out the Heartless as well." Strelitzia responded.

Not even half a second as the words left her lips that a hord of Element Heartless appeared, the fire types, and the lightning types. Alarmed, Strelitzia quickly summoned her Keyblade while Mog turned into the Bow and Arrows for Serah to wield.

"Speaking of which..." Serah sighed, before taking careful aim and fired at the Lightning-Heartless before jumping out of the way to avoid another Heartless' fire spell, which Strelitzia counterattacked by slashing at it and other Heartless with Serah's help in both arrow-shooting and sword-wielding.

"Freeze!" Strelitzia chanted, casting a Blizzard Spell which not only extinguished the flames, but also froze a couple of Heartless in place which allowed her and Serah to take out with ease. To their dismay, more Heartless appeared, this time the normal ones. Though it wasn't anything the two of them couldn't handle and despite the Heartless not willing to hold still as they kept moving about and even clawing at them, the two girls took them out as well.

Thankfully, it wasn't a long battle as the Heartless were defeated for the time being.

"Strelitzia...do all Keyblade wielders use magic?" Serah asked, as Mog returned to normal.

"With magical training, yeah. Though I know there are others that can use magic without the Keyblade. Sorcerers, Wizards and others can do them too." Strelitzia answered, before saying as she took the lead down the hallway, "C'mon. Let's see where that Rabbit went."

Her companions nodded and followed her down the strange hallway. They arrived at the door and upon opening it, found out that there were several other smaller doors that kept getting smaller and smaller until finally the smallest one, which they had to crawl through one by one, led into the Bizzare room. But as Strelitzia stood up, she looked around in confusion and surprise.

"What's wrong?" Serah asked, after standing up and took notice of the strange little room of the single glass table with two bottles, one labled red and another labled blue, the ticking sounds of a multitude of clocks lining the walls, a chair, a woodless fireplace with a chiminy, and a square hole in the wall which strangely had a decorative painting of a bed that looked as though it was originally a bed that was literally pushed right in. The hole was next to a very small wooden door with a large golden doorknob with a face.

"This is different compared to what I've seen in the illusion of this room. The only things that are the same are this table, and that door." Strelitzia replied, puzzled.

Mog, curious about the door and the rabbit seen earlier, hovered towards it while asking, "How did the rabbit we saw get so small, Kupo?"

"No, you're simply too big." The Doorknob muttered suddenly, startling Strelitzia who, despite having seen this before through the illusion, was still not immune to the pressence of the talking Doorknob.

"The doorknob just talked!" Serah jumped, surprised.

"Kupo!?" Mog jumped as well.

The Doorknob then yawned before grumbling, "Why must every visitor be so loud? Is trying to sleep too much to ask?"

Strelitzia, Serah and Mog shared an awkward glance before shrugging and turned back to the Doorknob, with the Keyblade wielder saying apologetically, "We're terribly sorry for awakening you. Um, do you know how we can fit through the hole next to you?"

"Why don't you try the bottle...on the table?" The Doorknob suggested. Confused at first, the trio looked at the two bottles on the table. They approached it and saw that the blue one said, "To Shrink" and the Red one said "To Grow".

"So in order to go through the door and the hole, we have to drink the blue bottle and shrink ourselves?" Serah asked.

"And to grow back, we have to drink the red bottle, Kupo. This is very different. I've never heard of shrinking down to size, Kupo." Mog added.

Serah shook her head, "Neither of I."

"Depending on where we go, these have permament effects. So there's no limits of being small or big around here." Strelitzia explained, picking up the blue bottle.

"May I try it first? I'm very curious how it works." Serah requested.

"Uh...sure." Strelitzia nodded, a bit surprised before handing the bottle to her friend.

Serah hesitated a little, before taking a cautious first zip and was surprised that it actually tasted good. "Mmm...it tastes like Cherry Tart." She said, even though she suddenly went smaller, and took another zip, still unaware that she was actually shrinking, adding to herself, "Custard. Pineapple. Roast turkey-Whoa!"

She finally noticed the effects of the potion and ended up stumbling after being unable to hold onto the bottle. Serah fell onto the floor and Strelitzia quickly took hold of the bottle before it broke or spilled everywhere. Finally aware that everything seemed huge to her, Serah stood up and gazed up in a little bit of fear and complete awe.

"I'm...really small now. Like the size of a mouse!" Serah exclaimed, gazing at her hands despite that she looked and felt the same. Just smaller. "Did the potion do this?"

"That's right." Strelitzia spoke after drinking the bottle and was now the same size as Serah who quickly noticed, while Mog took hold of the bottle and drank it in one go before quickly placing it back into the table before the shrinking effects took place. "Whoever drinks the bottles can either shrink themselves or grow back to normal size."

"I can see why this place is called Wonderland. There's too many _wonders_ around here." Serah admitted, half-joking as Mog joined them, and Strelitzia giggled softly.

To their annoyance though, more Heartless appeared even though thankfully they seemed small in this room too. Strelitzia and Serah quickly dispatched them before deciding to move on into the hole in the wall which was dark at first. But when they emerged again, they suddenly found themselves in a surprisingly normal-sized hedge maze. Several roses line the hedges, some red and some white.

There were also entrances to other parts of this strange world.

"How did...what in the world?" Serah muttered, even more confused, looking back and forth at where they came from and where they were in now. "That's weird. Did we suddenly grow back to normal size?"

"Ugh. I forgot how confusing this place was, and this is the real one." Strelitzia groaned, placing a hand to her forehead.

"You're telling me." Serah sighed, before glancing at the two other holes and wondered aloud, "So, which way should we go next?"

Strelitzia was about to say something when Mog looked to the entrance on the right and he jumped in fright, which made his two friends look and their eyes widened when a large troop of Card Soldiers, followed and guarding the Queen of Hearts approached, and she didn't look too happy.

"Who dares to intrude!?" The Queen demanded angrily.

"Uh, we're terribly sorry. Don't mind us. We're just passing through." Strelitzia quickly said, nervously. Serah and Mog both nodded in nervous agreement.

This only made the Queen even angrier as she yelled, "NO one passes through without my permission! I will put you on trial for your crimes!"

"Trial!?" Serah exclaimed, shocked.

Strelitzia then protested, "But we didn't do anything wrong!"

"I'll be the judge of that." The Queen declared, before ordering her Guards, "Seize them at once!"

"We're in trouble, Kupo!" Mog shuddered as the Card Soldiers advanced on them.

"What're we do?" Serah asked, taking a step back.

Normally Strelitzia would fight, but even the circumstances and numbers, there was only one thing to do in order to avoid this mess. She grabbed hold of Serah's wrist and dragged her to the entrance behind them, yelling, "Run!" and her companions didn't hesitate, thinking along the same lines.

"DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY OR IT'S OFF WITH YOUR HEADS!" The Queen shouted which made the Cards jump before they hurried to chase after the two women and the Moogle.

Unfortunately for them, they already lost track of Strelitzia's group as they had vanished into the hole and already went far ahead. While they went one direction through out the maze, Strelitzia, Serah and Mog, who were hiding behind another hedge, silently stepped into another, which took them out of the maze and into Lotus Forest. Again, everything seemed giant to them.

"What a very short-tempered person." Serah grumbled once they were safe for now, crossing her arms in anger. "Who did she think she was accusing us for something we didn't do!?"

"I wish I knew." Strelitzia sighed, before asking, "Is everyone alright?"

"I'm fine. Just wish that person would hear us out." Serah replied.

"I don't think she would listen to anyone but herself, Kupo." Mog pointed.

"Indeed. The Queen listens to no reason. But which reason is a truth and a lie?" An unfamiliar voice echoed suddenly around them, alarming the trio who looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.

Just then, as they heard chuckling, Strelitzia, Serah and Mog spun around and saw a smiling face and eyes fade into view, along with the rest of the body, revealing to be a purple and pink striped cat.

"A Cheshire Cat?" Serah asked, surprised.

"Oh, so you know what I am? Big surprise, as none other visitors could figure me out before. But like many others, you all seem to be having trouble figuring something out." The Cheshire Cat replied, grinning away.

"The doorknob said there were other visitors too. How many did really come here?" Strelitzia inquired after sharing a puzzled expression with her companions.

The Cheshire Cat then stood on it's head, like after materalizing his head underneath his body and balanced on it while answering, "One who was a curious Alice, three who were looking for Alice, and two who did not know Alice. Many in coats, two of them having the key, same as one of the first three. Like me, they appear wherever they liked, but unlike me, they still remain in one piece."

"That...doesn't quite answer my question." Strelitzia replied slowly.

"Only because questions don't matter. Every answer leads to questions." The Cheshire Cat simply shrugged, while his head returned to it's original position even though his body disappeared, leaving him as a floating head, floating arms and legs and tail.

"But doesn't the Queen ask any questions or let people talk? Or does she simply like to slice people's heads off?" Serah asked, getting even more annoyed.

The Cheshire Cat's arms and legs then vanished while he said, "To like slicing people's heads off or not, no one knows and dares to know. She is simply mad!"

"What about the other visitors? What were they like?" Strelitzia urged.

"Well...Alice may have gone home, or is somewhere here. Who's to say? The other visitors, three having keys, innocent and clueless, always have companions by their side. Names are a mystery to me, but shadows always muck about. Black coats are easier to remember." That was the Cheshire Cat's last reply before he simply vanished without a trace despite the protests of the trio to not go.

"He was making riddles with us, Kupo." Mog realised, shaking his head.

"And he only told us the name of one person who came here before. Someone named Alice. I wonder who she is?" Serah added.

"And there are three others with the same key? Could he have meant the Keyblade?" Strelitzia mumured, before her eyes widened as she realised, "One of them could be whom we have to find and help to protect the worlds!"

"And the Shadows are the Heartless!" Serah added, before asking, "But then...who are the people in the black coats?"

Strelitzia frowned in concern, thinking deeply before shaking her head. "I don't know. Whoever they are, I don't think they're good news. To anyone. Maybe we should look around for more clues and avoid the Queen at all costs."

The others nodded.

* * *

As they travelled through the Lotus Forest while fighting off Heartless along the way, Strelitzia's group climbed up the giant lily pads and tree branches, and discovered the hole in the tree. But then Serah noticed something odd in front of it and bend down to pick it up.

"What is it?" Strelitzia asked, noticing.

As the pink-haired young woman stood, carefully analyzing the object, she blinked in realization and held it to show her friends, "It's that Rabbit's Pocketwatch." showing off the clock itself.

"Wonder how it got here, unless he came through here and dropped it on his way through there." Strelitzia wondered.

"Or he came from there, Kupo." Mog added.

Strelizia and Serah shared a confused look, and they and Mog took a closer look at it. But as Strelitzia made to touch it, all of the sudden, it began to glow in golden light which alarmed all three of them. They all cried out as the light became so bright that it nearly blinded them. They then saw many images that they couldn't figure out what it was.

 _Sora, Donald and Goofy ventured through Wonderland fighting the Heartless and then take trial with the Queen while Alice is in the cage before the latter simply vanishes, secretly taken by Riku, and the trio fight the Trickster Heartless before Sora's Kingdom Key unexpectedly seals the Keyhole within the Doorknob's keyhole mouth._

 _Roxas takes part in missions with Luxord through out missions to collect Hearts in Wonderland while trying to figure out the Cheshire Cat's riddles._

 _Xion, Axel and Xigbar take part in another mission, in which Xion attacks Xigbar before passing out, much to Axel's shock and worry._

The light then fades and the trio's vision returned to normal, finding themselves in the same place as before. After blinking away the spots that filled their eye sight, they all shared a stunned and confused glance with one another.

"What was that?" Strelitzia asked.

"I think...we just saw through time when you touched this watch." Serah theoried, gazing at the clock again.

"It's like Strelitzia touching it triggered a vision, Kupo." Mog added.

"So...what we just saw...could it be the past of those who came before us? Just like the Cheshire Cat said?" Strelitzia said, eyes widening in realization. "Three with keys...those two boys who's faces look the same and that girl all had Keyblades that looked the same! It's similiar to my old Keyblade since everyone back where I came from all had the same standard Keyblade."

"And since you're a Keyblade wielder, you touching this watch allowed us to see through time since they are connected to this world, Kupo." Mog added.

Serah then frowned in concern, stating, "But the other two...they wore black coats just like those three other people we saw."

' _She's right._ ' Strelitzia realised in her mind, quickly troubled. ' _Those other people did wear those same black coats. Are they traitors and rely on darkness? Or are the people in the black coats something else? They fought against the Heartless too, but they weren't with that boy or his two companions who don't have Keyblades. And who would've kidnapped Alice?_ '

They then heard a loud rumble behind them which made the trio to glance back and gasp in horror as on the ground, was a giant green chameleon Heartless with googily eyes having appeared. To add to the horror and worry, the White Rabbit from earlier was cornered by it.

"The Heartless has him trapped!" Serah cried out, turning pleadingly to Strelitzia, "We have to save him!"

Strelitzia didn't need to be told twice as she already summoned her Keyblade before Serah finished her sentence, and replied, "One step ahead of you! Come on, guys!"

Both young women took a few steps back before running and leaped off the branch, and landed in a crouched position on the ground behind the Heartless, standing up and stood in fighting positions while Mog turned into Serah's Bow once again.

"Leave him alone, you over-grown lizard!" Strelitzia shouted at the Heartless who paused in attacking it's victum, turning to face the two young fighters while the Keyblade wielder continued, "Why don't you pick on someone who can fight!?"

The Stealth Sneak Heartless roared while the White Rabbit ran away to safety. The Heartless then shot out it's Lizard tongue to catch the two women who leaped out of the way and dodged the attempts. Serah then fired an Arrow at the monster's head, causing it to reel back, which gave Strelitzia a chance to run up and slash at it's chest while it was distracted before leaping backwards to avoid it slamming it's body on top of her.

As Strelitzia rejoined Serah, the former quickly summoned a Barrier Spell to protect both of them from the slightly recovering Heartless' beams of energy aimed at them. Once the attack stopped, the Heartless surprisingly leaped up and landed on top of one of the lily pads they were on earlier. Strelitzia and Serah then raced up towards it, firing either Arrows or Magic spells at it while avoiding it's own attacks as they got closer towards it. Strelitzia went ahead and leaped high into the air and over the Heartless' head while it gazed up at her.

"Thunder!" Strelitzia chanted, shooting out bolts of Lightning as it electrocuted the Heartless, before she called down, "Serah!"

"Right!" Serah nodded and once she was in a good position, she took aim and fired several more arrows at the Heartless's head, causing it to stumble and nearly regained it's balance, only for Strelitzia to land and strikes the Heartless with a flurry of attacks until the Heartless fell off three branch and crashed onto the ground below.

But as both Strelitzia and Serah returned the ground to continue fighting if needed, both of them were caught off-guard when it recovered enough to shot out it's tongue aimed at Serah who was frozen to the point that she would've been grabbed had Strelitzia not pull her out of the way just in time and narrowly avoided the Heartless' lizard tongue. Recovering from the shock, the two of them then continued the fight against the Heartless with both arrows and magic as well as strikes via Keyblade and Bow-Turned-Sword and while they sustained injuries, Strelitzia used Cura on herself and Serah.

Finally, as the Heartless was weakening to the point of nearly collasping but still to fight on, Strelitzia and Serah shared a glance, coming up with the same idea and nodded. As the Heartless reeled back to prepare a final beam of energy, Serah shot fired another arrow while Strelitzia shot out another Fire Spell at the same time, both the arrow and the ball of fire hitting the Heartless's chest dead on, stopping the Heartless' attack as a result and having delivered the killing blow. The Heartless gave out a pained roar before it collasped onto the ground with a thud, unmoving. A heart then appeared from it's body and disappeared into the sky while the Heartless itself faded way into oblivion.

"We did it!" Serah cheered, as she and Strelitzia, who felt very relieved, both shared a high-five of victory, while the bow turned back into Mog.

"We make a great team." Strelitzia smiled.

"Yeah! And thanks for saving me." Serah nodded.

The Keyblade wielder blushed a little, while pointing out, "You saved me. I owed you anyway."

"Oh my goodness. That horrible monster almost ate me!" The White Rabbit's voice quivered behind them, making the trio to look and see that he'd returned once it was safe enough to come on out. "I don't know who you ladies are, but, um...thank you so much for saving me."

"Happy to help." Serah replied, before remembering something and approached him before handing the Rabbit the pocketwatch, "Here. You dropped this earlier."

"Oh my! My Watch! I thought it was stolen!" The White Rabbit cried out, and took the watch before hugging him as though it was a teddy bear.

Strelitzia then approached and asked gently, "Excuse me, Mr. Rabbit. Um, other than us, and a girl named Alice, you happen to have seen other people not from here earlier?"

"Well um...there was this boy, a duck and a dog who tried to clear the little girl's name, but dear me, they stopped the Queen's guards at the trial a long while ago. And I do remember these people in black coats that I've spotted briefly, but I have no time to speak to anyone." The White Rabbit answered, before gazing at his pocketwatch and cried out in horror, "Oh my goodness! I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!"

Before Strelitzia, Serah or Mog could say anything, the White Rabbit ran past them as fast as he could, "Ooh! The Queen will surely have my head! No time to say Goodbye! Hello! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"

The three of them only stared, with Mog muttering a puzzled, "Kupo?"

"Uhhh...maybe we should go to another world. I don't think we'll find anything else around here." Strelitzia suggested awkwardly.

"Probably for the best." Serah nodded in agreement, with Mog also nodding.

' _At least we have a better idea who that person who saved the worlds and a few of his allies look like. But then, he looked no older than me before I died. Are they still choosing children to wield the Keyblade? Or is it completely different? Whatever the case, I have to find him, and help Serah find her sister and boyfriend. I'm not going to fail again._ ' Strelitzia thought to herself, while she opened up another Corridor of Light with her Keyblade.

With that, the companions stepped into it, leaving Wonderland behind and onward to their next destination.

But at least the Heartless were dealt with in Wonderland for the time being.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a mysterious gray room in another world close to the darkness, a group of unknown people were watching a projection of Strelitzia, Serah and Mog, plotting something evil. Very evil.

"The little girl has destroyed the Heartless. She is very unusual." One figure, looking like a scientest with specs and short black hair in a bit of a mess, commented as his gaze was on Strelitzia. He chuckled at that.

"Such power of the Keyblade, much like Sora. The girl's strength as been refreshed, but not quite as powerful as him or his friends." Another figure, in gold and black armor and cape with a staff, pointed out.

"Perhaps we should turn her into a Heartless. After all, she can easily get in the way much like that boy!" A thin woman with long black hair and wielding snake staff suggested.

"And the little brat's friend is the younger sister of that other irritating woman! Why she was chosen to join her when she has no qualities." Another figure, looking like a knight with no armor from the medieval times growled, glaring down at the figures of Strelitzia, Serah and Mog. "And what is that floating stuffed toy?"

"You're the one to talk. You have a miniture majordomo who is the shortist out of your army." A man in a black cloak and redish hair and overgrown mustche pointed out, rolling his eyes.

The knight growled, "Oh, shut up!"

"That is enough!" A deeper voice silenced behind the group. The owner of it stepped into the light, revealing himself to be an evil heavily armored knight with horns on his helmet, and a massive black sword, clawed gloves, with perching white eyes through the helmet. He then informed them, "Both of them were once servants of time. Serah Farron has been reborn along with her family and friends. As for the girl with the Keyblade, she inhails from a past mostly forgotten and has since been brought back to life, to aid Sora."

His gaze turned sharply at the images of the group. "However, a little mislead by another servant of time, and a follower of the gods of darkness may make the children useful to eliminate Xehanort and take control of the boy and his friends."

* * *

Meanwhile, in a town near the river, a pink haired woman in clothes of red, black and white with a crimson sword strapped on her back walked on the concrete ground before stopping. A few feet ahead of her was a youngerish woman with blonde hair and a long white dress. With her was a shorter person, a girl with elf ears, a black nose, about the height of a two year old child, wearing a black and gray clothes, having a staff behind her back.

The three of them nodded, as the pink haired woman approached them, to begin a meeting and an important conversation.

* * *

 **A/N: Didn't have much ideas on Wonderland, so it ended up being only one chapter long. Hopefully the next chapter will be a bit better. Not sure where Strelitzia and her friends will end up next, but I hope you're looking forward to it.**

 **See you in the next chapter!**


	5. CH4: The Evil Queen's Return

**Author's Note: I've been struggling to come up with how the next world would turn out, especially when one of events to Strelitzia crosses over to my other story "Life NEVER was Normal" in two chapters/episodes as that story is set in an alternate universe.**

 **Finally I remembered the IOS Disney Snow White game "Seven Dwarfs; the Queen Return" and thought that...well, I'll avoid giving out the spoilers and let you guys find out.**

 **I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.**

* * *

 _ **CH4: The Evil Queen's Return.**_

As Strelitzia, Serah and Mog travelled through the Lanes Between, relieved that they were in their normal size, their thoughts were onto what they saw and learned earlier in Wonderland which seemed fine for now despite the Queen of Hearts wanting their heads sliced off.

"Who could that boy and those people in the black coats be? And why did we see visions of them through that clock?" Strelitzia was wondering aloud.

"It was almost like when I had the eyes of Etro that I could see the future, but it's different to what Yeul and I been through." Serah muttered, even though she knew that her companion was speaking more to herself than to anyone else.

"Huh?" The Keyblade wielder muttered, gazing at the pink-haired young woman who shrugged and continued, "In my previous life, after Lightning disappeared the first time, I was gifted to see through time just like someone named Yeul. But that would drain away our lives. Luckly we don't have that anymore."

"Oh, right. But then, what did what we saw have to do with me?" Strelitzia replied, after remembering what Serah told her and Al back in New Bresha.

Mog hovered over to her and suggested, "Maybe you were gifted to see what that boy and others went through in the worlds they visited, Kupo. When you were returned to life, you got a new ability to help you find them. Sorta like how you said your Keyblade changed completely, Kupo."

Maybe Mog was right, Strelitzia thought. Perhaps in her quest to locate the boy who saved the Realm of Light twice now in this new era, the gift of seeing the past was meant to help her locate him a bit easier. Maybe it was something else. She didn't know. If only she knew who the owner of the mysterious voice was and why she was revived for this task in the first place. She had been dead for many centuries. Other than her task and the aid of her new companions, she really had no idea other than travel to many worlds and figure things out.

The trio were then brought out of their thoughts as a bright light at the end of the Corridor was seen, meaning that they had almost arrived in the next world. Sharing a glance, Strelitzia, Serah and Mog nodded before walking into it to emerge from the Corridor of Light.

* * *

 _ **{DWARF WOODLANDS}**_

In a dark tower in an abandoned castle, having been so for a little bit over a decade, a dark mist began to form within the floor near the lifeless Mirror that was once used to see and know everything. The mists then formed into the ghostly figure in near black and see-through. But her unmistakeable purple robe was enough to be recongised by those who believed she would never been seen again.

She smiled cruely before turning her attention to the mirror, and with a wave of her hand, a wind starts blowing and lightning appears in the mirror before it erupts in flame. It then dies down and a white and eyeless face appears in the mirror surrounded by waves of smoke.

The Evil Queen has returned.

* * *

Meanwhile, near a small wooden Cottage in the forest, Strelitzia, Serah and Mog emerged from the Corridor of Light and glanced around. Thankfully the effects of the shrinking potion didn't effect them to remain small in other worlds and they were thankful for it.

"...This is the Dwarf Woodlands." Strelitzia realised, recongizing the place as one of the other many places she visited via illusions in Daybreak Town.

"What a cute little cottage." Serah said, admiring the house as she went closer to examine the outside of it, peering through the window. "Do children live here?"

Strelitzia giggled and shook her head, "No. That's where Seven Dwarfs live. I never met even the illusions of them, but I have briefly seen them."

"Guess that's why you called this place Dwarf Woodlands, Kupo." Mog realised, realizing the logic.

"Yes, but not everyone that lives here are dwarfs." The Keyblade wielder replied, before her attention turned to what was near the cottage. Slightly confused, she approached it which got the attention from her two companions who followed her two seconds later. There sat an empty glass coffin. "This wasn't here before. Not that I remember."

"Maybe everything's slightly different to what you remember. Changing even the littlest thing in the past can change the future." Serah thought, remembering more of her previous life. She then sighed and gazed at the coffin, admitting, "Seeing this somehow reminds me of when I was in crystal sleep for a while. I wonder if someone had to sleep in here?"

"The littlest thing...or something much larger. It's hard to tell with illusions of something that hasn't happened yet." Strelitzia muttered. ' _Yet, now that I'm in a future where many things may have already happened, it's different from what other wielders and I saw in our training_.' She thought.

But as she touched her hand onto the glass, to her, Serah and Mog's shock, the entire coffin glowed in golden light, and the trio had to shield their eyes again to avoid in being blind, and instantly like what happened in Wonderland, images appeared in their minds.

 _Ventus meets the Seven Dwarfs who think he is a thief despite him saying that he isn't and is looking for his friend Terra who in the meantime meets the evil Queen who tasks him to take out Snow White who runs away into the forest after saying she hasn't seen anyone named Master Xehanort as Terra fights the Unversed before fighting the Spirit of the Magic Mirror and was informed where Xehanort's whereabouts where._

 _Ventus then found Snow White and took her to the Cottage before leaving after being driven out by the Dwarfs again, and he fights the Unversed before meeting an old woman who is secretly the Evil Queen in disguise, and she gave a poisoned apple to Snow White who collaspes and falls into a deep sleep._

 _Aqua arrives and offers to help find a way to wake Snow White before meeting the Prince and informing him of what happened to his true love, prompting him to go and see if he could help while she fights the Mirror who fades away. The Prince's true Love's first kiss revives the Princess and everyone happily rejoys._

 _But the world had fallen into darkness sometime later, and Aqua, having also fallen into Darkness, arrives and briefly sees a comatose Ventus illusion before being taken into a Mirror by her dark reflection and fought against her Mirror-Double in order to escape._

The light then fades and the trio's vision returned to normal, and Strelitzia yanked her hand away from the coffin, eyes wide in disbelief.

"It's happened again...only this time...it wasn't a clock." The Ginger-haired girl whispered.

"That boy wasn't here, and yet there were other wielders who were. Maybe they're connected to him or something." Serah muttered, taking a couple steps closer to the coffin. "But this world...it was in a dark place along with that woman in blue hair. And that boy we just saw...he looked just like the one in the black coat but with a different Keyblade."

"Maybe this world had fallen into Darkness, but that boy with the brown hair somehow brought it back into the Realm of Light." Strelitzia thought, "But how did I bring up those images when it was a just coffin?"

"Maybe certain things you touch trigger the visions of those who were meant to find and help, Kupo." Mog thought, though he was just as confused as the two women.

' _Could be. But that would mean I'm seeing other people's memories, and having Serah and Mog see them too. Could it be because since I've been into the illusions of these worlds, it's making me see things that had already happened in the real world? And that boy who resembles to the other in the black coat...I've seen him before. Before I died._ ' Strelitzia thought, concerned as a memory of her own came before her.

* * *

 _ **FlashBack: During the events of Kingdom Hearts X...**_

 _A lonesome Strelitzia sat on the edge of the fountain in the centure of Daybreak Town after another day of going on missions to fight the Heartless and collect Lux. She missed out in finding the Keyblade wielder she wanted to talk to again, and sighed, disappointed._

 _"It's easy for that person to make so many friends. But no matter what I do, I can't seem to find the courage to meet him." She sighed again, her gaze meeting the stone ground._

 _A pair of shoes that began to walk by caught her attention, and Strelitzia blinked before up to see another boy, around her age or a bit younger, walking by. He had short spiky golden hair, with a black and white short-sleeved vest, black top, and different coloured short-pants. He also wore a band on his left wrist, and while he looked shy himself, his soft blue eyes met hers and he nodded slightly with a small smile._

 _Strelitzia nodded softly in return before the boy ran off to continue his mission, leaving his fellow Keyblade wielder behind._

* * *

End FlashBack:

As soon as the memory faded, Strelitzia became even more confused. ' _But what I saw in the vision, he was now wearing some kind of armor on his arm, and a heart-shapped symbol on the straps, and his hair got a bit longer and spikier. But why would he be here in the future? Was he taken through time? Was he revived like me? Or was he reborn like Serah?_ '

"So many questions...so little answers." Strelitzia said to herself.

"Strelitzia...?" Serah inquired, concerned on what the Keyblade wielder was thinking.

Suddenly there was a scream which echoed through out the entire land, which alerted the trio who jumped and turned to the woods seeing a path across a small bridge.

"Someone's in trouble, Kupo!" Mog cried out, quickly worried.

"Come on!" Strelitzia instructed and Serah nodded. The duo and Mog quickly raced into the woods in hopes of following the screams.

They scanned the dark and creepy woods only to encounter Heartless and grunted, making Strelitzia summon her Keyblade and Mog to transform into Serah's Bow. Serah fired arrows at the flower like Heartless that attempted to shot out poison darts at her but either never got chance or missed. Strelitzia slashed and hacked at the Heartless, cartwheeling out of the way when a soldier Heartless swiped at her and Serah who also dodged before slashing it several times with the Bow turned into her Sword.

"Light!" Strelitzia chanted, slashing the air with her Keyblade and created a blade of Light which flew towards three Heartless who were instantly disposed by that kind of power.

Despite that the Heartless kept coming during the battle, eventually Strelitzia and Serah took care of the problem for now before nodding to each other and continued onward, paying little attention to the scary illusions of trees looking evil and haunting with scary faces. Eventually the group emerge from the forest and into a beautiful flower glade, where they spotted, to their shock, the same Princess they saw in their vision being chased a Shadow Heartless.

"Look out!" Strelitzia shouted, running before leaping over the terrified Snow White and eliminated the Heartless with a single downward strike, landing in a knelt position on the ground. Sighing before standing up, Strelitzia turned to the scared Princess as Serah approached her, kneeling by her side while Mog returned to normal.

"Are you alright?" Serah asked gently. "It's okay. We're here to help you."

Snow White looked up, as Strelitzia approached while dismissing her Keyblade, deciding that she didn't want the poor girl get the wrong idea. She looked a bit older than what she looked like in the vision, but otherwise very much the same. Serah helped the Princess up to stand.

"Why, thank you, for saving me. Those horrible Heartless appeared and I don't know why they are still causing so much trouble." Snow White replied, which surprised the three companions.

"How do you know about the Heartless?" Strelitzia asked, wide-eyed.

The Princess gazed at her, and said, "I've first seen them two years ago, before the whole world fell into darkness after I was kidnapped and...well, I know because you have a Keyblade."

"So...you know what's happened?" Serah asked carefully. "You've met a boy, a young man and a girl who came here?"

"Oh! You mean Terra, Ventus and Aqua? I haven't seen them in a long time." Snow White muttered, before realising. "That means they all had Keyblades too...just like Sora."

"Sora?" Strelitzia inquired.

"The chosen one of the Keyblade. He and his friends, two who are the King's people, helped save me and the other Princesses two years ago. Oh, but maybe you don't know him?" Snow White said, apologetically.

Strelitzia and Serah shared a stunned glance. So the boy who saved the Realm of Light twice was named Sora, and the other three, were Ventus, Terra and Aqua. They turned back to Snow White and Strelitzia explained, a bit awkwardly, "I was asked to find Sora and help him and his friends for another adventure. Thing is, I didn't know his name until now. Do you know where he is?"

"He must be back home with his friends Riku and Kairi. I'm certain Sora, Donald and Goofy found Riku and King Mickey by now." Snow White replied.

"So what happened two years ago?" Strelitzia asked.

"It all began when Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness, had tricked an evil Witch named Maleficent into capturing me and six other Princess from other worlds; Aurora, Jasmine, Cinderella, Belle, Sora's friend Kairi, and young Alice to use our Hearts to open the Final Keyhole in a place called Hollow Bastion. Sora and his friends rescued our hearts and saved us before leaving to defeat Ansem. The last thing he said to most of us is that he couldn't go home until he found Riku and the King." Snow White explained.

"Even Alice was taken? From Wonderland?" Serah asked, stunned.

"To use your hearts to open up the Final Keyhole? Seven in total? Hearts of light..." Strelitzia wondered, concerned. She then asked, "What about before that? When you met Ventus, Terra and Aqua?"

"It was a long time ago when I met them. Terra had a Keyblade, and in that time, my evil Step-Mother the Queen wanted to kill me. I know now that he possibly wanted to protect me from the blue monsters which I still don't know about, because he asked me if I knew anyone named 'Master Xehanort'. I then ran away and met Ven and he took me to my friends' house in the forest." Snow White explained, continuing with the rest of the story which confirmed the vision Strelitzia, Serah and Mog had seen.

"...So why were the Heartless attacking you now? What happened?" Serah asked.

Snow White whimpered as a memory came to her. "It's so terrible. I don't how or why, but the Queen...she's come back as a ghost and took away my Prince and my friends, and warned me that if I wanted to see them again, I had to come to her. Oh, I'm certain she will kill me. So I ran, hoping to find someone to help me rescue them, maybe even Sora could have come. But then the Heartless attacked and chased me away."

"The Queen is back as a ghost!?" Strelitzia and Serah both exclaimed in shock and horror, while Mog exclaimed a horrified, "Kupo!?"

"That means everyone's in danger!" Serah cried out worriedly.

"Yeah, and most likely wants to lure her into a trap to kill her." Strelitzia agreed. Something had to be done in order to save the Prince and the Seven Dwarfs without getting Snow White killed. She closed her eyes to think and then had idea.

"I'll go and see to the Queen and rescue everyone." Strelitzia volunteered, surprising the other three. She then turned to Serah and said, "Serah, you and Mog stay with her and protect her from the Heartless. It's dangerous to have her waiting by herself with the Heartless around."

"What!? But it's too dangerous!" Serah protested.

"I'll be okay. I'm not afraid of the wicked Queen." Strelitzia promised.

"But what if she comes and she knows about this?" Snow White pointed out, worriedly. "She has evil magic and she can somehow know anything."

The Princess had a point, and it wasn't until Strelitzia, Serah and Mog remembered their vision and, given the mirror they saw, they realised that it too was magical and they put the two and two together; that mirror was the Queen's source of knowlage of things she wanted to know. In fact, she could be watching them right now. What they needed was some sort of plan to catch the Queen off-guard.

"...Maybe a diversion could help. It'll be risky, but I can't figure out how else to solve this problem." Serah thought deeply.

"Maybe...I should be a diversion. The Queen wants me and oh, I really don't want to get anyone else hurt." Snow White thought, sadly.

"But if you surrender yourself, your world will fall into darkness." Strelitzia pointed out gently. "But then again..." She began before looking around and then had an idea. "Wait a minute..."

She then gestured the others to come closer and as they all huddled up, Strelitzia whispered what she had in mind and despite the knowlage that the magic mirror probably knew what was going on, it was the risk they had to take. When she finished explaining the plan, Serah, Mog and Snow White, who all knew that it was risky, nodded.

"Thank you, um...oh dear." Snow White muttered, realizing she forgot to ask the names of the three new travellers.

"Oh, sorry. I'm Strelitzia." Strelitzia sheepishly introduced herself.

"My name's Serah, and this is Mog." Serah introduced herself and Mog who happily waved, "Nice to meet you, Kupo."

"Pleased to meet all of you. I'm Snow White." Snow White replied kindly. "The Castle is that way." She added, pointing at the towering castle on the road up ahead.

"Well then, let's go." Strelitzia declared, and her companions and the Princess nodded.

* * *

The ghost of the Queen sat in her familiar throne and smiled evilly as she waited for her plan to come to fruiton. She used her newly dark power to teleport the Magic Mirror into the room, and there were other nine Mirrors surrounding her chained up onto the walls, the ninth one empty and normal, while the other eight had the Prince and all Seven Dwarfs who all tried and failed to escape their mirror prison.

"...Magic Mirror, I wish to hear. Is Snow White becoming near?" The Queen inquired.

" _ **Alas, my Queen, Snow White is upon sight, her Heart becoming brighter in light.**_ " The Magic Mirror replied.

The Queen chuckled, "Excellent. Once Snow White has come, I will take out her heart and banish it's light. Her body will then remain in the mirror with her foolish loved ones for all eternity."

" _You won't be getting away with this, you old hag!_ " Grumpy yelled from his mirror prison, more furious than terrified, unlike his six fellow Dwarfs who shivered in fear. The Prince likewise shared Grumpy's feelings.

"Silence! You dare to defy your queen?" The Queen bellowed as she stood up and glared at the grumpiest dwarf in the room.

"Please don't hurt them, your majesty!" A familiar pleading and gentle voice cried out from the other end of the room. Everyone looked to see that Snow White had just arrived, looking afraid but brave and pleading, as she hesitatedly approached.

"It's Snow White!" The Dwarfs, except for Dopey who only whimpered since he can't talk, exclaimed in both relief and fear.

"No, Snow White! Run! Save yourself!" The Prince cried out.

"I can't. Not anymore." Snow White shook her head to her true love, before stopping half way from where the Queen was. "I know you want to kill me. But please, if you do, at least let my Prince and friends go. I want to trade my life for their freedom."

The Queen scoffed, "You dare to sacrifice yourself to save them, Princess? There will be no requests, Snow White! I have you right in my grasp. I will take your heart and place her lifeless body into an empty mirror, and I will be the Fairest in the land!"

"Please. I beg you. Let them go. I will let you have me. They mean to me more than my own life." Snow White pleaded, nearly breaking down into tears, which broke the hearts of the horrified Dwarfs and Prince who could only watch helplessly. She was risking her life to save them.

"I'm afraid only the power of light can harm me and free them. You are not to be with them, Snow White. Now, your heart is mine!" The Queen bellowed, rising her hand up into the air and then casted a blast of darkness at Snow White who screamed and braced herself, with the Dwarfs and the Princes screaming out her name.

Just as both Strelitzia and Serah bursted through the doors and while Serah shoved Snow White out of the way, Strelitzia used a Barrier Spell to deflect the attack before chanting, "LIGHT!" and blasted a beam of Light at the quickly stunned Ghost Queen who screamed and was hit, flown back into hitting the wall, yelling in agony.

The impact caused the nine mirrors shake before they tell, shattering the glass and disappearing. In sparkles of light, the Prince and the Seven Dwarfs reappeared, glacing around at each other and themselves, realising that they were now free.

"We're free!" Doc exclaimed, relieved and confused. He and the other Dwarfs and the Prince hurried over to Snow White who was helped to stand by Serah. The Princess immediately put herself into her lover's arms in relief and happiness and giggled happily as all Seven Dwarfs gathered around her.

"I'm so happy to see you!" Snow White said to all of them.

"YOU!" The Queen bellowed, as she stood up half weakly but angrily, glaring at all eleven of them who stood before her. "You tricked me!"

"No." Strelitzia said boldly, glaring at the Queen in return. "I was the one who tricked you. You claim yourself to be Fairest of them all, but what you really are is an old mean and horrible woman who's jealous at Snow White! Beauty isn't everything. It doesn't matter what people look on the outside. It's what they do it counts, and what their hearts tell them. Your heart is too clouded by the shadows of selfishness and caring all about yourself."

The Queen was becoming more and more furious, as she gazed at Strelitzia's Keyblade, and growled, "I've seen that sword before. That fool who refused to kill Snow White and had been looking for this 'Master Xehanort' had one! He defied me! He refused my order!"

"More like he decided to ignore it!" Serah yelled back angrily as she stood next to Strelitzia. "It's like my friend said; You're just jealous because Snow White will always be much more kinder and loved than you will. Besides, as far as reality goes, being fairest means being kind and caring towards others! It's not about being beautiful on the outside. The real beauty is within the heart."

This only made the ghostly Queen even more furious as she bellowed, hovering in the air as darkness surrounded her body, "You meddling fools! You both will pay for such insolence!"

"Everyone! Get outta here now!" Strelitzia ordered the group of nine as she and Serah both held a tight grip on their weapons.

"What about you, dears?" Happy cried out, worriedly.

"We'll be fine! Go!" Serah said.

Despite the hesitation, Snow White, the Prince and the Seven Dwarfs all nodded, with Grumpy leading the group through the doors while Strelitzia and Serah faced off against the Ghost of the Evil Queen who suddenly became see-through once more. She then conjoured up a green potion and tossed it at the two travellers who leaped out of the way as it smashed onto the carpet on the floor. The Queen then floated around the room and continously tossed both potions and dark spells at Strelitzia and Serah who ran to avoid the attacks.

When one neared them, Serah fired another Arrow to smash it in mid-air, which angered the Queen. This allowed Strelitzia to summon another Light spell, sending towards the Queen who screamed and became solid form and lowered to the ground, briefly unconscious while standing. The two friends immediately slashed at her while in phsyical form, sending her flying as she hit the wall the second time in a row. Strelitzia then gasped as she saw the Queen recover before returning to her ghostly form and fired another dark magic ball towards them. She chanted Barrier again to shield herself and Serah even though the force of the attack sent them skidding backwards a little.

Strelitzia then used Curaga on herself and Serah before they leaped out of the way again when a rain of several potions came down upon them, with the Queen again hovering in the air, as she chanted, "Magic potions, hear my call! Destroy these fools, once and for all!"

"Thunder!" Strelitzia chanted as an idea hit her, and she casted her own spell which shattered the potions into oblivion, before Serah fired another Arrow at the ball of dark magic the Queen tossed, causing it to explode in mid air and then Strelitzia had another idea.

"Serah!" Strelitzia called out.

"Okay!" Serah replied, firing another arrow while Strelitzia fired a orb of Light. The two combined and became a Light Arrow, hitting the Queen who screamed as she was consumed by the power of the Light Arrow before landing on the ground, again in phsyical form and was again too dizzy to do anything.

Strelitzia then leaped into the air and sent down a rain of Light upon the Queen while Serah counterparted with more arrowed as they were magical themselves. Both attacks hit and struck at the Queen who screamed in agony before she hissed in fury before becoming ghostly again and hovered in the air, blasting a rather huge blast of dark magic at the two who were hit and screamed as they crashed onto the floor hard, not having expected such an attack despite the Queen beginning to weaken. As the Keyblade wielder and archer slowly pushed themselves up, they gasped as the Queen began to summon another spell to finish them off once and all. Despite running low on her magic until it regenerated itself, Strelitzia used another Cure on herself and Serah before they both rolled out of the way to avoid in getting hit by the dark magic, which angered the Queen even further.

Then she had another idea and held out her left hand to Serah, calling out, "Follow my lead!"

"Got it!" Serah nodded, and grasped it before the two of them leaped up in the air and held out their weapons, with Strelitzia summoning Light from her Heart and sending out orbs of Light while Serah, despite quickly becoming dizzy, fired more Arrows as they became covered in light, and eliminated the Orbs of Darkness the evil Queen was sending, as Light defeated the Darkness.

Finally the two of them stood side by side and fired a last Light Arrow combined attack at the Queen who didn't have time to attack as she screamed as one of the attacks had made her in phsyical form and now this Light Arrow went straight through her chest and perched her Heart, brighting her black heart with light.

"This...cannot...be!" The Queen painfully yelled, feeling her strength fade ever so quickly.

While both Strelitzia and Serah landed safely on the ground and stood in defense, just in case the Queen still had some fight in her, the Queen herself stumbled before panting. But as she glared at them, her body soon began to drastically change; her skin began to wrinkle, her hair became long and aging white, her nose began bigger, and her clothes turned to that of an old woman's robe. She also became shorter and hunched as she also began to sink into the darkness that formed beneath her.

When the Queen looked at her hands, she gasped in completely horror, and screamed in an aging old woman's voice, "No...! No! Nooooo!" before she sank into the darkness below and faded completely, returning to the Underworld where she emerged from earlier.

Once they were certain that the Queen was gone for good, both Strelitzia and Serah relaxed their postures as Mog returned from his Bow form, commenting, "She really was a mean and horrible old woman, Kupo."

"The darkness in her heart really got to her. Maybe it manifested on it's own and let her return as a ghost. Yet the power of light had sent her back to where she came from." Strelitzia said, shaking her head. "Not like how I was brought back to life."

"It's so sad how the Queen only cared about her beauty. But I can't feel sorry for her. Not after what she put Snow White through." Serah muttered.

" _ **The Queen is once again gone, my service once again done.**_ " The Magic Mirror's voice spoke, causing the trio to turn and face it, as the Mirror continued, " _ **Chosen Keyblader with powerful Light, thou saved Snow White, thou ressurrection will always be right.**_ "

Strelitzia blinked, before realising, "You're the Mirror who showed the Queen everything she wanted to know." Before requesting, "Please, tell us. Tell us about this boy named Sora."

The Mirror gazed at her silently for a moment, before answering, " _ **Thy chosen who travelled for a year, his new destiny is near. Evil who are once gone will return to threaten everything and everyone he holds dear. Your journey is not yet done, but now I must be gone. Adiue, oh ressurrected one.**_ "

"Wait!" Serah cried out just before the Mirror's face could fade. "What about my sister? And my true love?"

" _ **Thou older sister was called by a bringer of Light, to make certain everything is right. Thou reunion will come soon, whether by thy sun or thy moon. Thou true love seeks her for thou sake, but darkness lingers closer in it's wake.**_ " The Mirror said, and before anyone could say anything else, the Mirror's face vanishes and the mirror reflects once again.

This left the trio sigh and share a glance. Well, at least they were getting somewhere. But it looked like darkness had another idea and it made their journey a bit more difficult.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Strelitzia, Serah and Mog returned to the Glade where they reunited with Snow White, the Prince and the Seven Dwarfs who had all been relieved that the trio had returned safely and were even more relieved when they heard that the Queen is now gone for good.

"Thank you so much for everything. Without you, I'm not sure what would have happened." Snow White said, smiling happily.

"We are forever in your dept. Thank you." The Prince added warmly.

"We're just happy to help. I would've done the same if anything happened to my true love, which I'm looking for along with my older sister." Serah replied, and Strelitzia and Mog both nodded.

"So what will you dears d-d-d-AHCHOO!" Sneezy sneezed, before continuing his question, sniffling, "Do now?"

"Well, the three of us will continue looking for Serah's family and a person we have to help." Strelitzia answered.

"I suppose we do need to thank you for everythin'." Grumpy grumbled.

"Please come back soon." Happy said, and the other Dwarfs, Snow White and the Prince nodded.

The three companions nodded, thanking them. "Well, guess we'd better go. Goodbye everything." Serah and Strelitzia waved.

Strelitzia then smiled and approached Grumpy, saying, "Goodbye, Grumpy." and gently kissed him on the forehead, which made the usually grumpy Dwarf make a bashful sound and blush with a smile, much like how Snow White first kissed him on the forehead.

With that, Strelitzia, Serah and Mog ventured off from the Glade and once they found a decent spot where there was no one else around, the Keyblade wielder opened up another Corridor of Light and soon the trio left the world of Dwarf Woodlands behind to continued their adventure.

* * *

 **A/N: Remembering the Queen's Return game(even though I've only seen glimpses of it on Youtube) and remembering Scar's ghost in KH2 in Pride Lands' second visit, I thought I'd make the evil Queen's return in this story somewhat similiar. I even made up the battle against her and leave the Magic Mirror out of it.**

 **See you in the next chapter!**


	6. CH5: Bear With It

**Author's Note: Sorry for the major delay. Been stuck on how the fifth chapter would turn out. I originally had it placed at the Castle of Dreams, but got stuck halfway and been unble to continue with that. So I've re-written it and decided to set it in another world where not a lot people had put in on Fanfiction(at least from what I've read) nor was ever in any of KH games and was originally meant to be in Birth By Sleep but was cut off.**

 **I think you can guess what it is by now.**

 **I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.**

* * *

 _ **CH5: Bear With It.**_

 _ **{GROOVY JUNGLE}**_

As the Corridor of Light opened and Strelitzia, Serah and Mog emerged from it, they gazed around their new surroundings with wonder and slight awe. It wasn't anything they'd seen before, not from what either of them could remember. It appeared that they were in a forest, or a jungle on a nice sunny day.

"Where are we?" Serah asked, looking around. It gave her a sense of deja vu but at the same time, she knew this was a completely different place to what she'd seen in her previous life.

"I'm not sure. I've never been here before." Strelitzia admitted. "Not even in the illusion back in Daybreak Town."

"Must be a brand new world for all of us, Kupo." Mog thought, hovering around. "I don't see anything or anyone around here."

' _That could be true. It's not a place Sora might come to. The worlds I've been in so far are where he entered, but this one is different. Maybe he's here and I can meet him._ ' Strelitzia thought to herself, thinking deeply. However, she doubted that but something unusual was happening in this world, other than the Heartless.

Suddenly the trio heard all kinds of mocking laughter followed by screeching and a young boy's voice crying out in alarm which made the trio turn sharply to the source of the sounds.

"Over there!" Strelitzia exclaimed, pointing in the direction from the right. "Let's take a look!"

Serah and Mog both nodded, and the trio headed towards the source.

* * *

As they arrived in the area while taking out Heartless as they went, Strelitzia, Serah and Mog all gasped in shock as all around them were...a large group of monkeys high up in trees, holding a young boy who looked no older than ten years old, wearing only a red loin cloth or whatever it was, with short black hair, and a large gray bear with long sharp claws...and he looked pretty angry at the monkeys who were continously mocking him.

"Take your flea-picking hands off my cub!" The bear, surprisingly to the group of travelers, growled at the monkeys as he emerged from the river, rather awkwardly.

"Come and get him, champ!" One monkey taunted.

"He's no champ! He's a chump!" His ally corrected with a smirk.

"Baloo!" The boy cried out to the bear who was apparently Baloo that Strelitzia, Serah and Mog guessed.

The Monkeys continued to mock Baloo as a third one agreed with the other two Monkeys while continously dangling the boy in their grasps from the trees, "Yeah! Ha-ha! A big hothead!"

"Okay you guys asked for it!" Baloo growled, charging towards them, "I'll-ooh!" only to miss as the monkeys pulled themselves up away from the bear's reach and he missed while quickly losing his balance and fell right back into the river with a big splash.

"That'll cool him off!" Another Monkey mocked with a smug grin.

"Um..." The two young woman shared an awkward glance, not sure what was going on or what had happened.

"Do you think we should help rescue the boy, Kupo?" Mog asked, quietly as he felt awkward about the situation as well. Only to cry out when something hit him on the head and the same thing happened to Strelitzia and Serah who all cried out in small pain.

"Ow!" All three of them cried out before glaring up at the monkeys who were throwing rocks at them when they soon noticed them as did the boy and Baloo who was too focused on getting his 'cub' back.

"Hey! Stop that!" Strelizia scowled angrily.

"Check out these man cubs! Their furs are all weird!" Another Monkey laughed, which made all of the rest of his kind laugh hysterically as well.

"One's like two lion tails on her head and the other's like a whipped cream!" Another mocked.

"And look at that tiny puff-ball that's with them!" A sixth Monkey mocked.

Serah growled angrily as she clutched her fists tightly. "I'll teach you misbehaving monkeys who's weird!" She yelled.

"Let the boy go now!" Stretlizia added, as she and her two companions charged in to grab the boy, but missed and ended up stumbling before losing their balance and fell onto the ground which made them even angrier. Even Baloo was at his limits as he climbed out of the river again to continue to try and rescue the boy.

"Give me back my man-cub!" The Bear demanded, charging forward.

"Here he is, come and get him!" The second Monkey taunted as he and another Monkey held the boy in front of the tree for Baloo to grab. Unfortunately for the bear, the two Monkeys yanked the kid upward and Baloo smacked face first right into the tree trunk comically which made him dazed before falling flat onto the ground.

"That's how a bear can rest with ease!" Another Monkey teased as he hanged from a tree above him by his tail before rejoining his companions.

"Here's some bare necessities!" Another mocked, before all of the Monkeys began throwing fruit at Strelitzia, Serah, Mog and Baloo who all tried to stand up, but were continously hit and splattered by all kinds of fruit that began to drip and dribble onto their bodies.

"Didn't your mothers tell you not to play with fo-omph!" Mog was cut off when another hit him in the face that caused him to fall onto the ground while Strelitzia and Serah tried to shield themselves from the shower of fruit.

"Now just try that again, you-!" Baloo challenged as he made a fighting stance with his fists up, only to be cut off when another fruit splattered cross his face and covered his mouth completely, frustrating him even further.

Strelitzia groaned before snapping at the Monkeys, "Will you miscreants cut it out already!?" before ducking quickly to avoid another fruit, only for one to hit her behind the head as she fell forward. "Ow!"

"Oooh! All of you are worse than children!" Serah screeched, trying to bat away more fruit but failed miserably and was knocked down herself again along with Mog.

"Oooh! The ladies are really mad!" The first Monkey mocked in being terrified.

"I'm so scared!" The third Monkey added mockingly.

"Turn him loose or I'll jerk a knot in your tail!" Baloo warned as he threw away the fruit from his face and ran back and forth trying to catch the boy who cried out to him while being tossed and caught and swung by the monkeys who were going fast and faster and backing up. By the time Strelitzia, Serah and Mog got up, they gasped as they saw that two more Monkeys lined up with a vine, holding it tight right over the edge of a cliff and Baloo was heading straight towards it without looking where he was going.

"Watch out for that cliff!" Both young women exclaimed.

Too late, Baloo tripped over the vine and went somersaulting over the cliff and fell all the way down, hitting a boulder which rolled down towards him and by the time he landed on his back, the large rock hit him on the head and splitting in half while he was dazed comically.

"Baloo! Help me! They're carrying me away!" The boy cried out as he was now taken into the opposite direction.

"Let him go!" Serah cried out to the monkeys as she and Strelitzia made to give chase when Mog cried out as he was hit again and landed on the ground. By the time the two women turned to see what happened, they saw too late another rock hit them hard on the heads and caused both of them to collapse onto the ground, this time knocked unconscious.

While the monkeys continued carrying the boy away deeper into the jungle and out of sight.

* * *

 _Sora, separated from Donald and Goofy after the Gummiship crash landed in Deep Jungle following an argument between Sora himself and Donald, meets Tarzan while having a brief vision of Kairi before they venture off to meet Jane and Sora's two companions arrive after being found by Clayton who wants to hunt and kill the Gorillas._

 _The trio help Tarzan and Jane to save the Gorillas whom the leader is suspicious of but later trusts the other humans and group due to them stopping Clayton and the giant Heartless and saving all Gorillas. Afterwards, Sora seals up the Keyhole within a tree in a cave behind the Waterfall. It is also here that Sora and Donald apologize to each other for the argument, much to Goofy's relief._

" _ **BAGHEERAAAAAAAAAAAA!**_ " Baloo's bellow, followed by a very startled screech jolted Strelitzia awake as she gasped while sitting up, alarmed. At the same time, a black Panther who had screeched, jumped in fright and shook stunned for a moment while the bear's voice echoed in his ears before stopping and he regained his senses before glaring at Baloo who realized who was in front of him after having climbed up the cliff with difficulty.

"Oh, you heard me, huh?" Baloo smiled in relief at the panther, who was obviously Bagheera.

Strelitzia blinked before noticing Serah and Mog who sat next to her to her right, concerned.

"You okay?" The pink-haired young woman asked, worriedly.

"I'm fine." The Keyblade wielder nodded, before groaning as she rubbed the back of her head. "Oh, my head. Those little miscreants...!"

"Mowgli? Mowgli?" Bagheera called out, looking around before grabbing Baloo's face with his paws and demanded, both angrily and worriedly. "All right, what happened? Where's Mowgli? And who are these two female man cubs and that...little fuzz-ball?"

He gazed at the two young woman who stood up slowly and with caution while Mog shivered before hiding behind Serah in fright, and Baloo stood up.

"Don't know who these ladies and that little fuzz ball is, but they were tryin' to help me find Mowgli! The ones who took Mowgli ambushed me! Thousands of 'em! I jabbed with my left, then I swung with the right, and then I let-!" Baloo tried to explain, which made no sense to Bagheera who wasn't had been short on patience lately.

The feline rolled his eyes and groaned, "Oh, for the last time, what happened to Mowgli?"

"Like I told ya, them mangy monkeys carried him off!" Baloo answered.

"The Ancient Ruins." Bagheera realized after quickly putting the pieces together, before moaning in dismay as he gazed into the distance. "Oh, I hate to think about what will happen when he meets that king of theirs."

"I wonder why the monkeys would take the boy like that for." Serah muttered to her two friends who looked just as clueless as she was.

"Whatever it could be, if they're concerned about this King getting to the boy, it's not good at all." Strelitzia stated with a frown, though part of her returned to what she just saw in that vision and she was certain it was a vision, which this time made no sense at all.

' _Sora was in a jungle too, but one completely different to where I am now. And that man who was raised by Gorillas, could it be a connection between that world and this one? Or just a coincidence? And Keyholes in both that world and Wonderland...what could they mean?_ ' She thought to herself.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Bagheera and Baloo approached her, Serah and Mog, with the panther questioning, "As for you two. Who are you and why are you here?"

"Oh, we're sorry. My name's Strelitzia. These are my friends; Serah and Mog." Strelizia apologetically introduced herself and her two companions who waved at them. "We were just looking for someone who needs our help when we came across Baloo who was trying to get the boy back from those monkeys and we tried to help but...well, those troublemakers got to us."

"Oh don't tell another man-cub is out there. Things are getting much more complicated." Bagheera groaned in dismay. "Neither of you should be out here or away from the Man Village."

"We're not here to stay, so you don't have to worry about that. Besides which, why was that boy, which I assume you call Mowgli, here in the Jungle by himself?" Serah replied and inquired.

"I'll explain after we get Mowgli away from King Louie, the king of those Monkeys. Perhaps it's best that the three of you come with us. It's not safe out here." Bagheera responded.

"I'm not sure what the problem is on why Mowgli and these two ladies and their...fuzzy-wuzzy friend can't stay in the jungle, Baggie, but you got a point on getting the kid back." Baloo replied, which only made Bagheera facepalm himself with a paw in exasperation.

Strelitzia, Serah and Mog shared a glance, before nodding as they knew that the panther was right. Plus they could get lost in the Jungle and Mowgli had to be rescued. Plus, with the Heartless around, it made things more dangerous in this place.

"Okay. We'll go with you." Strelitzia agreed.

"Good. Now, the Ancient Ruins is not too far from here. So stay close." Bagheera instructed.

"Lead the way, Kupo!" Mog cheered as he relaxed now that the panther and the bear can be trusted, with Strelitzia and Serah nodding in agreement.

* * *

As the group followed Bagheera and Baloo through the Jungle while fighitng off more Heartless which the two animals were stunned and admittedly impressed with the two young women fighting the monsters off with their weapons and having explained they use the Keyblade and Sword/Bow and Arrow to protect anyone needing to be saved, before all five of them reached the ancient ruins which were old crumbling buildings of an Palace left abandoned for several years.

The group hidden themselves behind stone railings and pillars on the higher level of the Ruins, where down below seemed like a party going on as a large orange monkey whom Stretlizia's group correctly guessed was King Louie, was dancing with Mowgli and all of the Monkeys present.

"...Now, here's your part of the deal, cuz. Lay the secret on me of man's red fire." Louie requested to Mowgli who was confused.

"But I don't know how to make fire." Mowgli pointed out, and having grown up with the family of wolves for most of his life, he really had no clue how to make fire.

"Fire." Bagheera hissed softly. "So, _that's_ what that scoundrel's after."

"But Mowgli's just a kid. He wouldn't know how to make fire, would he?" Strelitzia pointed out, concerned.

"Of course not. Mowgli grew up with the family of Wolves ever since he was a much younger man-cub ten rains ago." Bagheera nodded, and by rains, he meant ten years ago.

"So he's an orphan, then. The poor thing." Serah whispered, feeling her heart ache.

"I'll tear him limb from limb, I'll beat him, I'll.. I'll.." Baloo growled, only to trail off as the music that was playing was starting to get to him and he began to dance to it since it was quite catchy. "Yeah, well, man, what a beat!"

"Uh...Baloo?" Mog muttered, dumbfounded as he and the others noticed the bear dancing along to the music at a time like this.

"Will you stop that silly beat business and listen!?" Bagheera hissed quietly to the Bear. "This will take brains, not brawn."

"You better believe it! And I'm loaded with both." Baloo said, distractedly.

"Baloo! This is serious." Strelitzia whispered urgently, shaking him by the shoulder which seemed to snap him out of it for a moment. Unfortunately as she and the others turned their attention back to the dancinging down below, Baloo was back into dancing and danced away down the hallway.

Bagheera, not noticing Baloo dancing away, whispered out the plan to him and the worldly travelers. "Now, Baloo, you while you create a disturbance and Strelitzia, Serah and Mog fight off those monsters, I'll rescue Mowgli. Got it?"

"Right." Strelitzia, Serah and Mog nodded.

"I'm gone man, solid gone." Baloo chantingly said, finally getting the others' attention and saw him walk and dance away, much to their dismay.

"NOT YET, BALOO!" Bagheera cried out, but was ignored. To make things more things more complicating, Heartless in forms of Monkeys and ancient Panther Statues materialized behind him and the worldly travelers who quickly stood in defense, with Mog turning into Serah's weapons.

"Quick, Bagheera! Go get Mowgli! We'll handle the Heartless here!" Strelitzia instructed, summoning her Keyblade.

Bagheera nodded and leaped away to rescue the young boy while Baloo disguised himself as a dancing large monkey to join in the party. The two young woman on the other hand stood firm before blocking one Monkey Heartess' attack.

Strelitzia swiped at it before cartwheeling out of the way to avoid several more and then she slashed and clashed against them, spinning once. The young Keyblade wielder then casted Blizzard to freeze a couple in ice before destroying them with another strike of her Keyblade. Sensing a Heartless behind her, she leaped out of the way to avoid in getting slashed before she eliminated it with Thunder.

Serah fired a couple of Arrows on other Heartless before jumping out of the way to avoid another, and then reverted her bow into her Sword and used it to protect herself from a Panther-Heartless that leaped at her before slashing it by the chest, sending it into oblivion. The young woman then spun around and saw a Shadow Heartless leap up to attack her, but she swiped at it before it got the chance to even get to her.

"Light!" Strelitzia chanted, slashing the air with her Keyblade and created a blade of Light which flew towards three Heartless who were instantly disposed by that kind of power like in Dwarf Woodlands.

By the time they finished fighting off the Heartless, the group heard a commotion happening down below and quickly turned to see that Louie was attempting to get away with Mowgli, with Baloo and Bagheera chasing after the Monkey King. Nodding to each other, Strelitzia and Serah hurried to give chase as well, leaping from the hallway window and landed on the ground and quickly went after Louie to rescue Mowgli. But as they chased after him, all of them accidentally knocked over a stone pillar which was holding the main part of the building into place. As everyone accidentally crashed into one another, they looked and saw what was about to happen.

Louie gasped before inadvertly giving the boy to Baloo and hurried to save the building, taking of where the pillar used to be with all of his might. Seeing him do this however gave Baloo a cheeky idea, and set Mowgli down to the ground with Bagheera, Strelitzia, Serah and Mog who returned to his original form. The bear in the meantime ran up to Louie and began tickling him on the sides.

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha-ha-ha HA!" Louie laughed hysterically, due to him being very ticklish.

However, the monkeys were using a log and charged towards Baloo to get him to stop. Unfortunately, they didn't think of doing it in another direction, because then they shoved Baloo over, the only succeeded in knocking Louie over and putting him into the same position, only knocking over another pillar without their king knowing while Baloo took the former's place in the same position. Smiling sheepishly, Baloo carefully freed himself from underneath the building and made a run for it while the entire ruins crumbled away and toppling over.

Strelitzia, Serah, Mog, Mowgli who was riding on Bagheera's back, the feline himself and Baloo all hurried away from the ruins, but not without the two animals getting a bit of injuries, such as one broken debries landing onto Bagheera's tail which caused him to screech in pain, and another hitting Baloo in the face, but not rendering him unconscious. By the time the six of them climbed over the wall and vanished into the thickness of the trees, the entire ruins was completely destroyed, and Louie was left in just holding a small broken piece of the debries.

Finally after reaching a safe distance, everyone stopped and those who ran(or flew in Mog's case) panted at the close call.

"Whew. Ha ha ha. Man, that's what I call a swingin' party." Baloo remarked with a smile.

"Oh, Baloo." Serah sighed, as she and Strelitzia both shook their heads in slight exasperation while Mog slumped while muttering to himself, 'Kupo...'

"Thanks for saving me, everybody." Mowgli smiled happily, before gazing at the two women and Moogle and asked, "Um, who are you?"

"I'm Strelitzia. This is Serah and Mog. It's nice to meet you, Mowgli." Strelitzia greeted with a warm smile.

* * *

Later that night, in another safe part of the Jungle, the group settled in as Mowgli was now sleeping with large leaves being used as blankets while everyone else stayed up to discuss the situation with Mowgli. Bagheera was telling Baloo, Strelitzia, Serah and Mog about how he found Mowgli when the boy was a baby and knew that it was days travel to the nearest man-village and thus decided to have the boy live with a family of wolves until the time was right.

"...And furthermore, Mowgli seems to have man's ability to get into trouble, and your influence hasn't been exactly-" Bagheera was saying to Baloo who along with Serah and Strelitzia shushed him when the panther's voice was getting a bit too loud.

"Shhh. You'll wake him." Serah whispered, gazing over at the sleeping child.

"He had such a long day. He needs some rest." Strelitzia nodded in agreement. Seeing Mowgli sleep like this put a smile on her face. The young 'Man-Cub' as everyone in this world called young humans looked so adorable in his sleep.

"Yeah, it was a real sockaroo. You know it ain't easy learning to be like me." Baloo nodded in agreement, which made Bagheera roll his eyes again.

"Pah! A disgraceful performance. Associating with those undesirable, scatterbrained apes. I hope he learned something from that experience." The panther begged to differ. He shook his head as Baloo went ga-ga over the boy while walking over to the edge of a river, with Strelitzia, Serah and Mog following him.

"It's not easy being young, either. Growing up is pretty tough for everyone, whether they have a family or they're on their own." Serah pointed out. "I really do understand why it's best for Mowgli to be in a place where he can be safe. He just...needs to understand that without too much scolding it, or that'll end up causing a rift between friends and family."

"Believe me, I've tried telling him something like that, but Mowgli is quite stubborn." Bagheera grumbled.

"Maybe it's because he's grown up here in the jungle he has always called it his home. Leaving behind a life you're used to is a difficult thing to accept and just telling them they have to go back isn't easy, and like Serah said, scolding and using forceful words isn't the right answer." Strelitzia shrugged.

"What does that mean?"

"I'm not saying not do it. Just, try telling him that it's for his safety. If you care about him that much, tell him that it's not easy letting him go, but it's not really a choice that you want but have to accept." The Keyblade wielder suggested, gazing at her reflection in the water. "I'm still struggling with the new change in my life, but I know that things won't be the same forever."

"Like how I'm still struggling without my older sister, but I won't give up until I find her, and that I wanted to help Strelitzia too." Serah added.

"Well, I suppose you're right. But it's not me trying to get that into the head." Bagheera sighed, turning to Baloo who was nesting the sleeping Mowgli and called out to the bear softly, "Baloo? Get over here. I'd like to have a word with you."

Baloo, hearing the panther, approached him and asked, "A word? You going to talk some more?" and yawned. "All right, what's up, Bagheera?"

"Baloo, a Man-cub must go back to the Man Village. The jungle is not the place for him even though he spend the first ten years living in it." Bagheera told him.

"I grew up in the jungle. Take a look at me." Baloo pointed out.

"Uh...apart from the bruise on your eye?" Strelitzia asked, carefully while pointing at the black eye around the bear's left eye.

Wondering what the female 'man-cub' was talking about, Baloo looked at his reflection and saw what she meant. "Yeah. It's beautiful, ain't it?"

"Frankly, you're a disreputable sight." Bagheera pointed out.

"Well, you don't look exactly like a basket of fruit yourself." The bear retorted back in annoyance, and true to his words, Bagheera had the same problem, only on his right eye.

"Oh!" He grumbled, before clearing his throat and continued, "Baloo, you can't adopt Mowgli as your son."

"Why not?"

"Uh... How can I put it?" Bagheera began awkwardly, before saying with a weak smile, "Baloo, birds of a feather should flock together. You wouldn't marry a panther, would you?" which only made Strelitzia, Serah and Mog all sigh and facepalm themselves.

"I don't know." Baloo shrugged.

"What he's trying to say is, it's not safe for him out here even if you do everything you can to protect him. Sometimes in situations like this you have to let him go to a place where he'll definitely be safe, no matter how hard it is to accept it." Serah said as clearly and gently as she could.

"Plus it is best that Mowgli would grow up with those of his own kind. Serah and I could do it, but we can't because we...well, we came from a different man village that we promised to return to as soon as we found Serah's sister and another boy who we're looking for." Strelitzia added.

Bagheera nodded, thankful for the two young women for saying something more clearer than he could think off, before adding, "And another thing, Sooner or later, Mowgli will meet Shere Khan."

"The tiger?" Baloo asked, now shocked as his eyes widened. He heard about Shere Khan, and even encountered him quite a few times. He also heard that the tiger had left the jungle quite a while ago, but he didn't hear anything of that guy returning. "What's he got against the kid?"

"He hates man with a vengeance, you know that. Because he fears man's gun and man's fire." Bagheera replied.

"And you're saying that this Shere Khan fears them so much he wants to make sure Mowgli won't do any of it and will attack him while he's still young and vulnerable?" Strelitzia asked, eyes wide in shock as were Serah's and Mog's. Well that certainly explained everything.

"Even without hearing reason?" Serah added, fearfully.

Bagheera nodded to confirm their fears and even Baloo was getting more and more worried, despite the latter trying to point out, "But little Mowgli don't have those things."

"Shere Khan won't wait until he does." Bagheera pointed out. "It's like Strelitzia said. He'll get Mowgli while he's still young and helpless."

"Right, and even if Mowgli does grow up without doing all of those things, Shere Khan probably won't see it that way because the fear and hatred has clouded his heart too much that has over-taken him." Strelitzia nodded in agreement.

"Well, well, what are we going to do?" Baloo asked, worriedly.

"The only thing that we can do for Mowgli's safety. None of us like it and it will crush his own happiness, but he has to go back to the village. It's for the best." Serah told him, and it ached not just her heart, but also ached the hearts of Strelitzia and Mog, and even Bagheera had a sad expression when Baloo looked choaked up and heart-broken as he looked at the sleeping Mowgli. They knew that the bear loved the boy like his own son.

"Baloo, it's up to you." Bagheera told him.

"Why me?" Baloo asked, emotionally.

"Be-because he won't listen to me and I doubt he'll listen to two of his own kind." The panther resonded, and he seemed to be struggling with his own emotions as well. As much as the boy was very stubborn, he loved the man-cub as well as a close friend and he hated to crush the innocent kid's happiness, but there wasn't much of a choice.

"Well, can't I-Well, can I wait until morning?" Baloo asked.

"It's already morning, Kupo." Mog answered, and true to the moogle's words, dawn had already crept up as the conversation had taken all night.

Even though he really didn't want to do this, Baloo knew and understood now with a broken heart that there really wasn't much of a choice. He went over to the sleeping Mowgli before pausing as he looked back to the others who, with sad and understanding expressions, nodded encouragingly to the emotional bear. Sighing, while not sure how to break the bad news to Mowgli, rubbed him gently to wake him up.

"Mowgli? Mowgli. Um, it's time to get up."

This worked, as Mowgli yawned and noticed his very close friend. "Oh, Hi Baloo."

"Hi..." Baloo replied and, told him gently even though he couldn't hide his sad expression. "Hey, rub that old sleep outta your eyes. You and me... We got a long walk ahead of us."

"Swell! Gee we'll have lots of fun together!" Mowgli said happily as he stood up, not really noticing that Baloo is now looking melancholy.

"Sure, yeah. Yeah. All right, let's hit the trail, kid." Baloo said sadly, walking down the path with the kid, and waved a farewell to the others, "See you around, Bagheera, and ladies and...Mog."

"Well, goodbye Bageheera, Strelitzia, Serah and Mog!" Mowgli waved, tugging Baloo's arm as he did. "Me and Baloo, we've got things to do."

"Goodbye, Mowgli." Strelitzia waved along with Serah and Mog. "Be careful."

"Goodbye, Man-Cub. Good luck." Bagheera added.

After a few moments and once Baloo and Mowgli were out of earshot and sight, Strelitzia couldn't help but mutter worriedly, "Do you think they'll be okay?"

"I hope so. It won't be easy for Mowgli and it's definitely hard on Baloo." Serah sighed.

"You both should leave too. If Shere Khan meets you, you're only putting yourselves in danger and could possibly anger him even further, especially with those weapons you have to fight off the monsters." Bagheera told them while refering to the Heartless.

"Yeah. We'll-"

"Mowgli! Mowgli?" Baloo's voice called out which cut Strelitzia off.

"...Oh no...!" Serah whispered, as she and the others quickly feared that something had already gone wrong. So the four of them quickly hurried to the spot where Baloo was calling out to Mowgli who was now once again missing and their worries instantly grew and they feared that Baloo said something wrong.

"Baloo!?" Strelitzia cried out, finding the bear looking through trees in a desperate search for the boy. "Where's Mowgli?"

"You're not going to believe me, guys, but look, now I used the same words Bagheerga did, and he ran out on me." Baloo explained guiltily.

"Well, what are standing around here for!? We have to find him quick!" Serah snapped worriedly.

"She's right! Let's separate. We've got to find him!" Bagheera agreed, taking off in one direction. "Stretliza, Serah, Mog, do be careful and watch out for Shere Khan!" He added.

"Right!" Strelitzia nodded, gazing worriedly at Baloo before she and her two friends hurried off into another direction and the bear continued on in the same direction he went to find the boy.

They could only hope they weren't too late.

* * *

Even though they were finding themselves lost and having to cope with more Heartless, Strelitzia, Serah and Mog didn't stop in their search to find Mowgli who was clearly hurt and very likely feeling betrayed and alone and not understanding why.

"Mowgli!" Strelitzia, Serah and Mog called out, hoping that the boy would hear them even though they knew that he wouldn't want anything with them apart from getting him to the village where he would be safe.

Just then, they heard a familiar voice scream out in pain, followed by a roar and young boy's cries and...flapping wings? Sharing a glance, the trio hurried to see what was happening as they found themselves in a dry wasteland part of the Jungle as a storm was already brewing in. By the time Strelitzia, Serah and Mog arrived, their eyes widened as Baloo was being dragged while holding the tail of a tiger that was chasing Mowgli who was carried away by two vultures while another two were in the air.

"They're they are! And that must be Shere Khan!" Strelitzia gasped, turning urgently to the others, "Come on!"

Serah and Mog both nodded and hurried to help and save Baloo, only for them and Strelitzia to skid to a stop as, due to the darkness seeping and becoming visible on Shere Khan's body that emerged out, a large Tiger-like Heartless emerged from the ground and roared at the group who jumped back to avoid it's claws. Realizing that the Heartless was blocking them from reaching their new friends, they knew they had to defeat this thing and fast.

"Go away!" Strelitzia yelled as she summoned her Keyblade while Mog reverted himself into Serah's weapon, both young women standing in battle stances to fight the Heartless.

The Tiger-Heartless roared and leaped at the two who jumped out of the way, but felt the ground tremor and realized that this Heartless can cause damaging shocks that will be a major problem. While Serah fired an Arrow right at it's side where it hit a bullseye, Strelitzia chanted Fire at it's face where it roared in pain twice before snarling and whipped it's tail at the two who couldn't get out of the way on time and were both knocked back screaming before they hit the ground hard. Standing up with difficulty while Strelitzia used Curaga on herself and Serah, the two jumped to avoid another attack as the Tiger-Heartless attempted to swipe at them but missed, much to it's irritation.

Strelitzia cartwheeled to make herself go faster and then jumped to avoid it's tail before leaping into the air and, having an idea, she used the tail to catapault herself onto it's back and made to attack it's neck which seemed to be working, though she had to keep her balance as standing on the back of the Heartless wasn't easy as it continously moved all over the place. Still she managed to flare up a spell of Light at it's head which forced it to fall to the ground briefly dazed which allowed Serah to fire more Arrows at it's face until she had to revert her bow into it's Sword form where she instead focused on slashing at it's face as quickly as possible.

Strelitzia continued to attack it's neck until they both saw that the Heartless was about to regain consciousness, so both leaped away while the Keyblade wielder leaped off and into a safer distance with Serah. The Tiger-Heartless roared once more, but both of them were ready this time as they shared a glance and gave each other a nod.

"Serah!" Strelitzia called out.

"Okay!" Serah replied, firing another arrow while Strelitzia fired a orb of Light. The two combined and became a Light Arrow which hit the Heartless in the chest, forcing it to rear back and again rendering it dazed.

Strelitzia then leaped into the air and sent down a rain of Light upon the Heartless while Serah counterparted with more arrows. Both attacks hit and struck at the Heartless who screamed in agony before it hissed angrily before charging forward towards them.

Strelitzia and Serah had to jump out of the way before it could body-slam them which created strong quakes that rocked some parts of the area, even nearly hitting Mowgli, Baloo and even Shere Khan. Strelitzia again leaped onto it's back and repeated her last attack while Serah slashed at it's face while avoiding it's jaws that attempted to take a bite out of her but couldn't even as it stood up.

"Thunder!" Strelitzia chanted, zapping the Heartless with the Lightning spell, which didn't seem to make much an effect. So she tried Fire instead, which did the trick and realized what this meant; Shere Khan feared fire because people can create it and this Heartless came from the real Tiger's darkness within his heart. This gave her another idea.

"Serah, see if you can hit this thing with Fire Arrows!" Strelitzia called out to her friend who, somehow knowing the same thing, nodded in agreement.

"Fire!" Strelitzia chanted, sending one orb of Fire to Serah who held out her arrows to absorb them before firing the said arrows towards the Heartless's chest while the Keyblade wielder sent out the rest of the spell onto it's head and neck which did the trick because the Heartless now felt burns all over it's body that quickly began to spread, and it roared in agony due to being weak from flames and the fear of fire from Shere Khan's heart.

Strelitzia then leaped from the Heartless's back and flared up one last Orb of Light despite her Mana lowering quickly, while Serah fired more Arrows and both attacks hit the Heartless at the exact same moment. The Heartless stood no chance as it roared in pure agony due to the combined attacks of the two young women. As the two stood after Strelitzia landed next to Serah, the Heartless gave a final roar before collapsing onto the ground, defeated and destroyed as the heart from it emerged before fading away, and it's body vanished into oblivion forever.

At the same time as the Heartless vanished, the vultures were charging at Shere Khan and distracting him while Mowgli snuck up behind him with a tree branch that got caught on fire due to a lightning bolt striking it earlier after the tiger knocked down Baloo.

"Stay out of this, you mangy fools!" Shere Khan growled, swiping at the Vultures but kept on missing while they continued to taunt and attack him by pulling at his whiskers, much to his frustration.

Just in time, the boy tied the branch to the tiger's tail before quickly backing away, and this was the cue for the Vultures to flew back as well, smirking smugly.

"Look behind you, chump." One Vulture with feathers over his eyes smirked.

Feeling something unusually warm, Shere Khan turned to look behind him and to his horror, he saw that his tail was tied up to a tree branch that was on fire, one of his most terrible fears. His expression was so priceless. He tried to run away from it, and even tried to put it out by batting at it but it wouldn't work, so he ended up running away in uncontrollable fear, and unfortunately, each time in his panicked speed, the branch on his tail kept on hitting him on the back, as he screamed out in agony, continuing to run away until he was seen no more in a humiliating defeat.

By then, it now began to rain which also began to put out the rest of the fire near the dead tree. Strelitzia and Serah sighed in relief as Mog reverted back from his weapon-form. However, when they turned to see if Mowgli and Baloo were alright, they gasped in horror as the latter was still lying down on the ground and not moving. Even the Vultures who landed onto the tree branch after celebrating the victory of defeating the Tiger were saddened and horrified by this.

"Baloo?" Mowgli asked, kneeling next to the bear, trying to shake him awake and begging him to wake up. Strelitzia and Serah both covered their mouths in horror and sorrow as they approached, hoping Baloo would wake up, but he didn't. By this time, Bagheera, who had just arrived to see what happened and while he was very relieved that Mowgli was safe and sound and grateful that Baloo and the two young women had saved the boy, he knew what had become of Baloo.

"Mowgli, try to understand." He gently muttered.

"Bagheera, what's the matter with him?" Mowgli asked, hoping that there was any way to help the bear who had become much like a second father to him.

"You've got to be brave, like Baloo was." The panther replied, while trying not to break the news.

"Y-You don't mean..." Mowgli trailed as he realized the meaning behind Bagheera's words, and hugged the body of the fallen bear and silently cried. Both Strelitzia and Serah couldn't hold back their emotions and began to cry in sorrow for the loss of the bear.

"Kupo..." Mog muttered in sorrow, sniffling.

"Now, now. I know how you feel." Bagheera tried to calm them, even though he tried not to cry himself. But as he began leading the sorrowed four away and pausing, none of them saw at first that Baloo was in fact alive and well, and was regaining conscious while the panther continued, "But remember, Mowgli: _"Greater love hath no one than he who lays down his life for his friend."_ When great deeds are remembered in this jungle, one name will stand above all others: our friend, Baloo the Bear."

Baloo, as he was hearing this, began to become very emotional at his old friend's speech and sniffled, muttering to himself, "He's cracking me up..."

"The memory of Baloo's sacrifice and bravery will forever be engraved on our saddened hearts." Bagheera continued. "This spot where Baloo fell will always be a hallowed place in the jungle, for there lies one of nature's noblest creatures."

Baloo sniffled even more, very touched. "I wish my mother could have heard this." He said to himself, emotionally while the rain finally stopped and the sun began to shine through.

"It's best we leave now." Bagheera concluded, and despite the sorrow, Mowgli, Strelitzia, Serah and Mog nodded.

Seeing that they were about to leave, Baloo quickly called up as he sat up. "Hey, don't stop now, Baggie, you're doing great! There's more! Lots more!"

"Baloo?" Streltizia muttered in surprise and hope, as she and the other spun around and saw that the bear was indeed alive.

Bagheera couldn't believe it. Baloo was alive and worse, he even heard the former's entire speech which now was a complete waste of time, especially when the bear wasn't even dead to begin with!

" _ **WHY, YOU...BIG...FRAUD!**_ You, you-four-flusher! I-I'm fed up!" The panther yelled furiously, while the vultures and everyone else were much very relieved. Mowgli quickly hugged Baloo who hugged him happily in return and both Strelitzia and Serah smiled happily.

"Hooray!" Mog cheered happily. "He's okay, Kupo!"

"Thank goodness." Serah said happily.

"What a relief. It's like a miracle." Strelitiza smiled in relief, even as she thought back of memories of her missions in Daybreak Town all those years ago, in the illusions of the future worlds.

 _ **Flash-Back: During the events of Kingdom Hearts X...**_

 _Strelitzia sighed in sadness as the seven dwarfs had gathered around the glass coffen that held the sleeping Snow White who was put into deep sleep, as the seven little men cried in sorrow. The young Keyblade felt her heart ache, even as the handsome Prince approached and kissed the sleeping Princess and knelt down in saddnes and respect._

 _Suddenly, to her and everyone else's surprise, Snow White's eyes began to open. She slowly lifted herself off the pillow and rubbed her eyes, seeing the Prince before her. The Dwarfs' expressions changed to those of happiness. Dopey and Happy toss their hats into the air as Sneezy lets out a celebratory sneeze. Even Grumpy stomps the ground with a cheer._

 _"Snow White...she's...she's awake! It's a miracle!" Strelitzia remarked happily, as Chirithy reappeared behind her._

 _"The Prince and Snow White's hearts must have been connected; that's why he showed up when he did. The bond between hearts is a strong, beautiful power. Maybe it's a power you have deep inside you." The small talking cat told her, and Strelitzia, understanding what her companion was saying, nodded in agreement._

 _"Yeah." She replied._

End Flash-Back:

As the animals and Mowgli cheered even though Bagheera was still annoyed, the panther couldn't deny even he was happy. So after waving a goodbye to the vultures and the three worldly travelers who wished them well, Mowgli, Baloo and Bagheera walked away.

Strelitiza and her two companions continued to smile, even though the Keyblade wielder then realized something the moment she had that flash-back of the illusion of Snow White.

' _Aqua was there when the real Snow White woke up by the kiss from the Prince. It was because of the bond between hearts that holds the strong, wonderful power. Maybe it was the bond Mowgli had with Baloo that had him awake up, the love they shared as family despite not being related. Maybe enough love is enough to bring one back or save them from the brink of fading away into darkness._ ' Strelitzia thought to herself.

Whatever it may be, Strelitzia knew that her journey wasn't over yet. So with that, she, Serah and Mog left the Groovy Jungle behind through another Corridor of Light and ventured off to continue their quest.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the mysterious grey room, the mysterious group continued to monitor Strelitzia's movements and what had happened in the latest world she, Serah and Mog were in.

"My, my. What would have caused the Heartless to form from that creature's heart?" The scientist inquired, seemingly amused by the events.

"His hatred for man and fears of their weapons and fire clouded his heart, which is what drew the Heartless to arrive in that world." The horn-armored man answered. "Something similar happened in another world two years ago when Sora first began his journey as he locked each world's Keyhole before confronting Xehanort's Heartless. That Tiger failed to see the truth and thus the darkness and his hatred clouded his senses."

"Not a bright animal, is he? Even my army is a lot more smarter than he is!" The Knight figure snorted, smirking.

"Indeed. Yet, that is not what interests me." The scientist pointed out, smirking cruelly as he gazed at Strelitzia's group's image. "The girl's powers are astonishing. If I am correct, she can see what Sora and those connected to him had gone through in those worlds they had visited, and she can even see them despite being in a world he had not yet ventured into himself."

The red-haired man in the black cape snorted and frowned deeply. "You say that now, but she is becoming a problem. If she meets with Sora before we can use her to destroy Xehanort, we won't be able to use the boy for our own deeds."

"Yet Sora is not yet aware of this girl's existance nor does he know what his Heart is holding." The horn-armored man pointed out. "He and his allies are focusing only on stopping Xehanort. We must make haste in capturing them and destroy that old fool ourselves."

"And what of Sora's Nobody Roxas, and that fool Lea, as well as that King, Mickey Mouse?" The scientist questioned, frowning this time. "If you recall, they and those children had defeated the Brotherhood of Darkness. Should they get in the way, they must be destroyed."

"We aqquire them as well." The leader the group said darkly. "First and foremost, we focus on the Keyblade wielder reborn and her allies, as well as the keys in awakening the one to unleash the power within Vincent Valentine."

"Ah yes...Chaos." The Scientist smirked.

"Those children are unaware of our goal, and the pieces are within our grasp, one by one." The horn-armored man snickered in an dark and evil chuckle. He held out a hand and materialized a dark and black floating symbol of a stigma. "All that is needed now is controlling the girl and her allies."

* * *

 **A/N: Again, I am deeply sorry for this chapter being so late. After struggling with Castle of Dreams, I had decided to re-write the entire chapter and go to a different world instead. Hopefully I won't take just as long to update this story the next time when I do(and to my luck, I know have to replace my headphones. :P)**

 **In the meantime, see you in the next chapter!**


End file.
